L’OBJECTIF: Walking Home (From The City): A Review

Words By: Amy Jade Davies

If you’ve ever moved into a big city, you’ll know the confusing feelings that battle between

themselves as you figure out who you are about to become in this brand new place.

L’OBJECTIF’s latest single ‘Walking Home (From The City)’ manages to capture all of

these feelings in one big spiraling sensation, whipping together all of the messy,

contradictory emotions into a single sentiment.

Though the lyrics are worded in a way that addresses a person, the subjectivity screams of

talking to a place that once held so much significance in the narrator’s life. Cutting from lines

like “I’ve been working in your churches”, “You’re spinning loose in this ghost town” and “I’ve

been told of a big place / Your little shoes and my solemn brow” piece together a bigger

picture: one of knowing there are better places to fall into the right path, but still feeling as

though you owe a part of it to your small town roots.

This track feels like it was made to slot into the soundtrack of your favourite comfort romcom,

ornamented with a rich, drawing riff that pulls the whole sound together in a manner that is

reminiscent of Blossoms’s ‘Ode To NYC’. The repetitive nature of this riff is ironically felt

most when it disappears for a lyrical refrain involving a repetition of the line “You’re in my

mind” - completely poetic in how the sound faultlessly demonstrates the way in which every

other thought disappears when a single thing takes up so much space in your head.

The other refrains are as solid to the formation of the track as the riff, with the subtly laid ‘La

la la’ vocalisations embodying the hopefulness that the big city life brings, while the more

direct hook of “Let it slide over” feels like an acknowledgement to leaving a part of yourself

behind in your hometown. The line “I’ve been trying on a new face” establishes that

impression that the big city allows for growth in whatever way you desire. Your identity can

be completely reshaped, taking any form you desire; you can build the person walking home

from the city from the ground up.

The track’s outro cements this newfound identity in its abrupt change. The increased

repetition of the hook right before the outro is almost as though the narrator is clinging to that

past version of themselves, before the outro comes crashing down in quicker, brasher

guitars that have a western feel. The slight change in the vocalisation brings everything to a

cyclical close: the roots formed in the old ghost town remain, but have warped into

something stronger, more assured and more confident in its revived identity.

Considered as a whole, ‘Walking Home (From The City)’ embraces growth while

recognising the foundations. It is an ode to the things we hold onto from the past, of letting

those things remain at the forefront of your mind, but still finding the space to mature around them.