Scrappy Goodbyes and Lo-Fi Hope — Wotts Closes a Chapter with Heart

Canadian indie pop duo Wotts hit a raw nerve with “I’ll see you when the game resets,” the emotionally ragged finale to their EP FLANK!. Stepping away from their usual synth-driven shimmer, the track leans into jangly alt-rock territory, thinking the grit of early Strokes meets the bruised vulnerability of Pavement. It’s a farewell, yes, but not a door-slam. More like a slow, unsteady wave from across the street.

There’s a beautiful tension running through the song, the kind that doesn’t try to tidy up grief with polished production. Instead, the imperfections are the point. You feel them in the fuzzy guitars, in the hazy lo-fi layers that build like a fog around memory. It’s the sound of trying to move on when you’re not quite sure you want to.

Producer and vocalist Jayem keeps things understated but honest, giving the track room to breathe and ache. And while the EP as a whole explores the many faces of loss, of people, identity, time,  this final piece somehow manages to find a strange sense of peace in the mess. It doesn’t chase closure. It just accepts that not everything gets wrapped up cleanly.

With FLANK!, Wotts doesn’t just tell a story, they invite you into the silence that comes after one ends. “i’ll see you when the game resets” may be their roughest track sonically, but emotionally? It’s the realest thing they’ve done yet.