Raynes — Mark Race, Mat Charley, and Joe Berger — have released their vulnerable new single, “Tie Me Up” today. Profoundly personal, the track was inspired by Mark’s situation at the time of writing as he left behind a part of himself in the United Kingdom to pursue working with the band in Los Angeles. Listen to the song now below.
“Sometimes things just fit, and the day we wrote this song, that’s exactly what happened,” shared Raynes about the new track. “Our producer, Dan Book, had a cajon and started playing a beat while Mat added some mandolin and we built the skeleton of the song straight away. Dan recorded a chord progression on his keyboard that we loved, so we kept looping it while Mark hit on the topline for the chorus melody. When you hear the right melody, you know it, and we all felt that lightning bolt immediately.”
Touching on the song’s lyrics, they continued, “At its core, the song is from the point of view of someone whose partner is asking for some sort of commitment, but who knows that they cannot offer the stability or dedication that the other person needs. As a band, a lot of our emotional struggles come from knowing that the dream we’re chasing is not conducive to a stable life. We can never offer that (or at least, we sure can’t right now), but at the same time, we can’t stand the idea of breaking anyone’s heart. The first line of the chorus, and maybe the emotional nucleus of the song itself, is just a plea to be given permission to leave.”