I’ve been talking with my wife, Amanda, about this concept for a long time: what happens when we die, what human consciousness actually is, and whether there is some larger system or structure behind all of this. I was brought up Catholic, and like a lot of people, the older I got, the more I was exposed to other religions, other ideas, and other stories about what might be waiting on the other side. One thing I’ve always been fascinated by is near-death experiences, especially how many of them seem to follow a similar pattern: someone dies or comes close to dying, experiences something beyond normal perception, meets family members, spiritual figures, guides, angels, or sometimes just some guy named Gary, and then gets told some version of, “You’re not done yet.”

A lot of those stories are beautiful. They give people hope. But underneath them, there’s also a darker idea that I can’t stop thinking about. What if immortal souls are being sent here over and over again, whether they fully choose it or not? What if these human bodies are not just bodies, but vehicles? Containers. Meat suits. And if that’s the case, what about the animal underneath all of it, the mammal being piloted around by something bigger? Did it ask for this? Does it get a vote? If a soul can step outside the body during trauma, does the body still have to feel everything? I don’t know what the hell is going on, obviously, but that question is what started pulling this song into a darker place.

That’s the core idea behind “Good Containers.” It imagines reality as something designed by entities that needed a place to put immortal souls and a way to keep the cycle going. Birth, death, memory, faith, identity, all of it becomes part of the machinery. The lyrics came from an original piece Amanda wrote: not really a traditional lyric, more like a series of lines and images around the idea of bodies being containers. She handed it to me and asked if I wanted to shape it into a song, so I broke it into verses, choruses, and a structure that could carry the concept.

Musically, I built the track around a guitar rhythm I’d been playing for a couple of weeks. It has this bouncy, driving feel that stuck in my head, simple but addictive in the right way. Since the concept felt cosmic and ritualistic, I also started experimenting with a harp plugin on my keyboard and worked those notes into the arrangement. So what you’re hearing is LYRA vocalizations, harp textures, gothic/progressive metal energy, aggressive vocal moments, and this repeating rhythmic drive underneath the whole thing.

“Good Containers” comes out on July 24th. If you like it, keep listening to it. That’s really all I ask. If the music hits you, spend some time with it.

Thanks for reading.