Daily Dose: Henry Nowhere, "Not Going Back"

Daily Dose is your daily source for the song you absolutely, positively need to hear every day. Curated by the Paste Music Team.

Henry Moser is the voice behind lo-fi pop solo project Henry Nowhere, as well as a touring member of the atmospheric pop act Day Wave, a 2016 Best of What’s Next pick whose full-length major-label debut The Days We Had came out last year. For his solo project, Moser lingers on the cusp of reality and daydream, his music slipping away like a fast-fading dream or a memory just out of reach.

Earlier this summer, Henry Nowhere released the wistful single “Problems of the Heart.” His latest release, debuting here at Paste today, is the title track off his forthcoming EP Not Going Back. On “Not Going Back” Moser addresses the impulse to leave everything behind and explore the world—a desire not unique to him, but one that burns no less strongly because of that.

“The feeling of being lost and content is a recurring theme in my writing,” Moser says. “There is a big part of me that wants to drop it all, wander about and appreciate the world’s wonder.”

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That sentiment is captured in the feeling of escapism that resonates throughout this track. Even the vocals pull away, their hazy presence suggesting they’re really only half there and are in some capacity suspended somewhere dreamier. For Moser, music is a getaway in itself, a brief reprieve from the world—to give that refuge to his listeners was a goal of this song in particular. “I’m slipping through the cracks. If you see me go, I’m not going back,” Moser sings, and in every scenario he repeats the title line, “I’m not going back.” For a moment this mantra works and the listener is held in the song, away from reality, with the breezy guitar and shining synths.

Listen to “Not Going Back” exclusively via Paste below and check out a performance by Day Wave from the Paste archives further down.

Daily Dose: Henry Nowhere, “Not Going Back”