Matt DeAngelis has a nice heavy idea and everything we have will be gone, and then we'll be left with nothing but faith in Helpless To The Fire. The singer-songwriter from Southern New Jersey has been writing for most of his life, and it's evident in his confidence that he delivered this track with such a large theme.
Matt has openly spoken about living with OCD and anxiety since a young age and this has impacted his songwriting approach. He doesn't linger in hardship, instead he puts it to use and makes it something positive—takes his personal struggle and makes it something hopeful. This song is the same: it's facing fear squarely, and it never succumbs to it.
Matt's lyrics are inspired by early Bowie and have a great visual quality to them – could easily be adapted for film. It's evident here in the vividness of the song's focus on the image of fire as destruction and release. It adds a filmic quality to the track that sticks in your mind long after you've heard it, sort of like the images that remain after listening.
He sings the song with genuine clarity, and his voice ascends, not for its power, but for its comforting lift. The arrangement builds gradually, gaining energy as it goes and reflecting the song's own progression from uncertainty to something more solid, with a long-term studio band that he's been working with for a number of years.
The reason this track resonates is because of its openness about limits. Matt does not have all the answers. He is not relying on something bigger than him but he is relying on something greater than material certainty – faith. In a world that seems to constantly be telling us to cling to that which was never meant to last, that message is particularly apt.
Helpless To The Fire is an introspectively written and deeply felt piece of work that has been recorded at studios with real history. It provides comfort and is not intrusive, a reminder that hope can remain constant when all else is uncertain.
