New Song By East Coast Artist POSTDATA – “Nobody Knows”

POSTDATA is the side project of Nova Scotia indie band Wintersleep’s front-man, Paul Murphy. The project has a distinctively different sound than that of Murphy’s primary project, but then again, isn’t that what side-projects are for? The Nova Scotia artists first premiered the POSTDATA project in 2010 on an album of the same name. Murphy is gearing up for the release of a new POSTDATA album, ‘Twin Flames’ in March of this year. The second single off the new album, it’s titled ‘Nobody Knows’, and it’s available now on all the places you get your music.

Paul Murphy is best known for his role as frontman in the Canadian indie rock outfit Wintersleep, known best for their singles ‘Amerika’ and ‘Weighty Ghost’. The band has been an East Coast favourite for several years and even won a Juno in 2008 for Best New Group. It was only two short years after the Juno win did Murphy turn some of his attention to a new project, and another style of music altogether with his side-project POSTDATA.

Murphy’s side-project seems to give him a place to experiment with a softer side of music, maybe a more personal side of himself too. POSTDATA’s music is much more on the side of folk, or super-chill indie-not-quite-rock music. That’s a technical term by the way. In truth POSTDATA’s music, while consistently good, is all over the map in terms of style. This is probably a result of the revolving door collaborators Murphy has and has had, working on this project over the years, including the artist’s brother Michael Murphy. 

One thing that has been said about POSTDATA’s music since they dropped their first album back in 2010, and that I agree with overall, is POSTDATA is a much more personal project for the artist than Wintersleep, or so it would seem. Since the release of the first album in 2010 POSTDATA has released two singles along with a well-received full-length album Let’s Be Wilderness in 2018. Murphy is now gearing up for the release of the third POSTDATA album, Twin Flames, due out in March, with the release of a catchy new single, ‘Nobody Knows’. 

Murphy had this to say about the new single, “I wrote Nobody Knows on a sunny afternoon – one of those songs that just comes easy, all the lyrics and melodies done in a few hours. I think lyrically I was making light of the fact that I often don’t feel comfortable and content in situations…looking at the negative side of things when there are so many positive ways to look at life. I think in this era of social media where people feel the pressure to present their lives in the most perfect light, it felt like an appropriate sentiment, a little bit of a bite back. You can present yourself in a certain way, but it doesn’t mean that’s the reality of the situation, or who you are or what you’re feeling.”

This song has been on repeat for the past few hours of my at-home-workday and it’s been giving me some much-needed energy to keep plugging away in front of my screen. It’s got me thinking about love and art and fear and all the other things that make me write articles about songs and share them with you. For the record, this strikes me as one of the more upbeat sounding songs that I’ve heard from POSTDATA – I say this despite some of the lyrics and subject matter described by the artist above. The tune itself is just a little more optimistic than what one might expect from the artist. Maybe it was the sun? Maybe it’s just comforting to know that other people feel uncomfortable sometimes too. 

We’re still not sure what to expect from the full album, but I do hope some tracks maintain this direction artistically. The other single, and title track of the Twin Flames album, was released earlier this year, and it’s a beautiful and immersive song and is probably closer to what long-time POSTDATA fans are expecting to hear. We’ll keep an eye out and get you the details on the full album in March. In the meantime, Nobody Knows is available all the places you stream and buy your music. It’s worth noting that if you’re into indie music and vinyl records this artist keeps a selection available on his website. No word yet on if he will press the new album, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.