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Released in 2015, Bridge 19’s song, “Chain,” tackles the timeless theme of troubled love. It could even be viewed as a companion piece to the similarly titled Fleetwood Mac song “The Chain,” both lyrically and sonically. Though songwriters Audrey Cecil and Amanda Lucas agree that they don’t like to concretely define their songs meanings.
“For the most part, we try to let our songs be up for interpretation,” Lucas said. “That way people can relate to them in their own way. Sure, some of our songs are about personal experiences, but we also draw inspiration from others.”
“We were inspired by a mutual friend of ours on this one,” Cecil added. “They were going through a difficult dating relationship. One where there was lots of gray space in terms of fidelity. It was a situation where they wanted to stay with someone, even though they knew they shouldn’t, because it would not only hurt them but others as well. But it’s hard to let go of a connection sometimes even when you know you should or have to.”
Despite its swinging danceability “Chain” is a close relative to the outlaw country sound of the '70s. Following in that tradition, the band peppers in a healthy dose of horns and accordion inside the mid-tempo rocker of drums and acoustic guitars, which lends it a Spanish flair. Lucas’ full-throated, honey-warm vocals supply a sing-along chorus that will live in your head for a spell long after the song closes out.
“We wrote “Chain” during one of our writing retreats,” Lucas explained. “For this one, we wanted a kind of tension between the feel of the song and the topic we’re singing about. That’s something we are intentional about, writing songs that may sound upbeat and fun, but include lyrics and topics that are somewhat serious.”
“Typically, when we write, I play guitar to find a groove, chord structures, melodies and so on,” Cecil elaborated. "Amanda writes down lyrics and ideas that we come up with over the course of the songwriting session and tries to organize themes. When we were writing ‘Chain’, we remember knowing immediately that we had to concentrate on the beat, that we wanted it to be upbeat. Amanda was pencil-drumming through the whole session!”
Bridge 19 play a lot of shows which has led them to think about the design of songs from the ground up, something they paid special attention to with “Chain.”
“The more we write and play together, the more we thinking about the live performance aspect of each songs as we are writing it,” Lucas said. “When we perform live, we typically end our set with ‘Chain.’ The breakdown before the bridge is a great place to introduce the band and we often extend the song for a while because it usually gets a strong audience response. It’s one of our most requested songs at live shows, and is the song that people dance to the most.”
