“Sort Of Stranger” by The Greeting Committee & Briston Maroney Sort Of Broke My Heart

Written By Allyson Clayton

As this is my first exposure to The Greeting Committee, I didn’t have a frame of reference for how this song was going to sound so I went in to listening to it with fresh ears. By the end of my first listen, I felt the urgent need to binge their entire discography. 

The song starts out with: 

“I see you running out from the garden

Calling the kids, the floor is rotting

Brittle-boned homes for adolescents

I guess we do turn into our parents”

I was immediately soothed by Addie Sartino’s dreamy lilt and the delicate finger picking. The lyrics of the first verse paint this romantic picture of a future family and while their home isn’t perfect, it’s theirs. Straight into the pre-chorus and I got an immense sense of grief. The grief of growing up and realizing all the things you wanted, might not turn out exactly how you imagined them. 

I already need a hug! 

Then, Briston Maroney slides his vocals into the chorus, adding an almost haunting, but beautiful quality to the song. The chorus ends with, 

“If you're gone

How do I go on living?

If you're gone

How do I go on?”

Oof. Take a second to let those lyrics wash over you. A lot of life in anticipating loss and then figuring out how to keep on living. Can you hear the sound of my heart breaking?

Briston sings the second verse and if you thought you could hear me weeping through this article, you would be correct. Here is my interpretation of his words: 

“Call it a cop out like hating a hometown

Knock on your window with leash in my mouth”

You can make as many excuses as you want for why the problems you have persist, but at the end of the day you’re in charge of your own life. I’m yours and I’ll go wherever you go. 

“I've been agent, I wanna be anchored

You look right through me like some sort of stranger”

I’ve been working and I just want to be held, but when we’re together it feels like we don’t know each other at all. 

To be honest, I had to recruit the help of good ol’ Marriam Webster to figure out what Briston meant by saying “I’ve been agent”. An agent can be many things but at the core of that word is the idea of working, being worked, working for others. In conjunction with “I wanna be anchored” it felt like the feeling being conveyed was one of existential exhaustion. Don’t mind me while I crawl into a hole and never come out! 

The song continues with another pre-chorus, chorus and the outro that really hit home thos feelings of grief. 

“Don't wanna feel it, don't wanna feel

And it just gets harder, swear I feel smaller”

A universal feeling of longing. For me, these lines represent the ache in my chest that is ever present, holding the crushing weight of existence and I would really rather not feel it. It’s all-consuming and overwhelming. How do I go on?

“Sort of Stranger” is the first single off the deluxe version of their 2021 album Dandelion.  Grab your tissues and don’t say I didn’t warn you!