featured image by Kenna Sharp

Track Dissection aims to capture the essence of an artist’s song: the effort behind it, the context surrounding it, and the emotions etched within it. In each piece, the artist pulls back the curtain of their work, revealing its intimacies.

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so the ceiling’s crumblin’
and you look to me for where to go
well idk

i (tessa) typically consider my lyrics to be pretty straightforward, even obvious. “canary” is no different, though i’m happy with the central image.

yr canary’s stumblin’
think a melody can bring you home
but i know it won’t
yr gonna see(the)
but i told u so

like all tearyeyes songs, “canary” starts as a chord progression. then the vocal melody emerges, and that determines the lyrics’ eventual scansion. at the literal first tearyeyes practice in december 2024, we jam the verse/chorus chords. roxie calls it quick: “well, that’s going to be a song.”

now yr stuck here wonderin’
how the danger crept up from below
nice and slow

“canary” cements the title of the EP. when i start on the lyrics, i’ve just realized that i’d started each of “bloodlust”, “move”, and “unfurling” with the words “i don’t know”, completely by accident. on “canary”, it becomes intentional.

coulda seen it comin’
if you held yr life over yr coal
but numbers must grow
so i’ve got my cage
and you’ve got yr hole

the shape starts to come together in april 2025, when yeva and i debut it during a 2-guitar duo set. while practicing for the show, yeva comes up with the bones of what will be elisa’s line. there’s no full recording of us figuring this out. my phone gets stolen in feb 2026, and with it years and years of musical ideas and demos. all that remains is a snippet i post to instagram as part of show promo (at the end of this carousel), before i
even have the lyrics.

when you reach the gates
gl w yr soul!
choke on yr rage
cuz i told you so

three choices really bring this song together. the third comes right before recording, when i realize i have to strip the rhythm line back to a single, ringing note to take us into the bridge with yeva’s bass, which completely resets the energy. the second is the realization that roxie has to switch to the ride halfway through the second verse. but the first is the most important:

it’s not enough, fall asleep
it’s not enough, sing my song
it’s not enough, casualty
they need to never have been wrong

in february, yeva stops a runthru at practice to tell elisa to play her line prettier. “it’s a really pretty line,” she says. “right now you’re just kind of pressing buttons. sing it.” and then, “everybody shut up and listen to elisa’s line.” the result was one of those singular, crystalizing moments all musicians know well. it’s why the song starts with just elisa’s guitar.

no surprise, mystery
messengers all know
what survives emergency
emergency

to me, this process is as much what emergency the song is “about” as the words i sing – maybe even more. the emergency “what” pales before the “how”. before recording, i spent weeks emergency practicing my vocal texture for this track, making it soar emergency and flit and dive, giving
emergenCY each note the breath, power, rasp, and placement emerGENCY in my mouth, nose, and throat that felt correct. is that what “canary” EMERGENCY is about? is anything?

…but i told you so

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