Maple Glider sings of broken friendships on fragile cut “Friend”

Melbourne based talent Maple Glider releases “Friend” ahead of debut album To Enjoy is the Only Thing out tomorrow on Partisan Records.

After releasing one beautiful track after another, Tori Zeitsch AKA Maple Glider finalises her ethereal collective with “Friend,” a heartbreaking and reflective tale of lost friendship.

The soundscape follows in the same vein as her last singles. Gorgeously diaristic and intensely personal, “Friend” is led by a stoically struck guitar, solemn keys and an echoing drum beat. It is simplistic yet haunting in its honest delivery and admirable heart.

Of the track, she said: “This song is for an old, good friend. In some ways it feels like one of the most personal songs on the album. I knew I wanted to write it for a long time, before I finally did. It’s a reflection of some of my experience in the music industry from the age of sixteen or so, before Maple Glider existed, and the story of a friendship intertwined inside of each of our shiny music dreams. It was turbulent and unbalanced, and we both became a little undone within it. A lot of hurt and healing came to the surface after years of close collaboration, and ‘Friend’ is the result of that.”

There’s often a lot of emphasis placed upon the impact of the end of a romantic relationship, yet the loss of a friendship is one that’s often bypassed as less hurtful or messy. In “Friend”, Maple Glider confronts this head on, revealing in a personal yet universal way the influence that this gone but not forgotten friend had on her.

Unlike her past offerings, the video accompaniment for “Friend” is directed by Athina Wilson (her previous singles were all directed by her good friend Bridgette Winten). Straying from the super 8 vignettes that we’re used to, it’s fitting that her final video allows us to see a completely clear and present Maple Glider.

And well, those purple boots make for one grand finale also.

Rachel Chandler