“Life” is a song I wrote in between Yearbook and the EP Midterms. I had been struck by a car in New York City in the summer of 2021, and that incident, combined with the unexpected deaths of several close friends, had me thinking hard about mortality. The song references a line from John Denver’s “Thank God (I’m a Country Boy)”—Life ain’t nothing but a funny funny riddle—which becomes a kind of incantation throughout the track. In retrospect, it feels more like an expression of rage than anything else. That aggressive underpinning was amplified by the drumming of Jeff Lipstein, who also went on to mix the song (and my next two albums).