M & J’s latest release, “Not By My Side” approaches heartbreak from a revelatory angle: losing someone is often the best thing, for their absence is not a tragedy but a chance for clarity. With hints of folk, acoustic rock and punk, the song is about the emotional journey of wanting a lost partner back to the realization that the split might be better in the end.
The song is lyrically very strong and has a story arc. It begins with the listener immersed in familiar feeling and then the story doesn’t stay there. The urge to go back to the separation begins. But the emotional angle shifts when the narrator realizes that life without the relationship can be okay – and maybe even better.
It’s got an intimacy in the acoustic base, but the rock and punk edge adds a little more emotional heft and forward momentum to the material. That contrast is for a song about overcoming disappointment, not being defined by it. “Not By My Side” triumphs by not making loss a narrative conclusion. On a record that will resonate with anyone who has ever come to the realization that moving on can be healing in itself, M & J turn heartbreak into self-awareness.
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