A Couple Things - Kate Bollinger

“A Couple Things” – Kate Bollinger

11 March 2020 – single

This is a record you can loop for hours. It’s the lead guitar that dances in a dream and sings a lullaby in its interlude. It’s the rhythm guitar that, with only two chords, pulses up and down like gentle ride on a merry-go-round. It’s the rhythm section’s cymbals riding in the wind and its drum set chugging along before joining the syncopation in the chorus.

And it’s especially Bollinger’s melodic voice. The gentle ring of every word in each verse, followed by the echoing in the chorus, paints a soft picture of the lyrics. Bollinger writes about an unsettling feeling: what if I fail? The verses allude to a companion that, albeit invasively, would let her know when she was wrong. And maybe there’s a comfort in having that. After all, it’s nice to know exactly when we’re right or wrong. But on our own, we’re left vulnerable to failing without any guidance. She notes, “you always took care of my baggage/it’s hard now it’s somethin’ I gotta do”; the burden is entirely on her. 

The chorus takes it away so succinctly, yet so brilliantly. In pulsing between two chords, Bollinger rocks over messing up a few things and messing up a lot of things. And not only messing up—“If I mess up a couple things” turns to “If I fuck up a couple things.” It’s uncertainty that meets the listener in every moment. It rises and falls as much as it can while you lay in bed, walk outside, or peer out a window.

“A Couple Things” is poignant and  simplified, allowing the listener to ride along a wave of uncertainty without letting everything fall apart. In its tenderness, the song reminds us: it’s okay to not know.