Toronto based alt rock/indie folk band The Neighbourhood Watch have returned in 2021 to bless us with a new single “20 Year Dream” off their forthcoming album “Lost in Bloom.” Exploring the notions of resenting those they once loved, abandoning arrogance, and dealing with a bit of peter pan syndrome, the band beautifully dives into the feeling of letting down a former lover because of, in their words, “how I practiced love” in “20 Year Dream.” This track sweeps us through a beautiful but heart wrenching story via melodic songwriting, gorgeous instrumental arrangements, and thoughtful lyrics like “I started to run/started to crawl/over and over. When I look at the stars I start to find/everyone is caught up in their own peace of mind. You’ve got your own sense of lovin/and it let me down.”
In their words, “20 Year Dream is about being happy for the people you used to love. Accepting that you're standing in the way of their growth-and that they're better off without you.”
The track was first written sitting in a garden in Johannesburg. “I was tipsy from an evening at a rooftop bar in Maboneng. I had just cried after a hard call. My neighbours were sitting in their backyard listening. After I wrote it, they asked me to sing “Here Comes the Sun” because it was their daughters favourite song and they had called their daughter up to listen to me sing. I first played it live at the upstairs of a Mexican restaurant in Montreal where my friends and I were putting on a show. I remember washing dishes in the back of the restaurant, grinning from cheek to cheek because I’d asked a girl out and I thought the song was awesome.”
“This song just fits together production-wise. The band kind of intuitively knew what needed to be on it. Ethan designed the arrangement so easily-with trumpets and organs. I never needed to explain the vision or correct anything. We, as a band, just fit together and understood each other.”
The band's album, “Late Bloom” is out February 4th, and I can’t wait to go along for the ride.
Written by Sydne Broady
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