Get ready, because this one is an emotional ride.
Hello Industry is Nathan and Heather Peterson, and you could say they have a story to tell. They have released a new EP titled When I Was Young, and it is inspired by their daughter, Olivia, who was not supposed to live a week after her birth. Olivia is now 10 months old.
Nathan recently shared on his Facebook page: “”Another month of living life at its most basic level – breathing, eating, loving, trying our best as parents, apologizing to our kids a lot, fighting to put effort toward our marriage, apologizing even more to each other, wondering why we can’t be the people we picture in our heads but not to letting that shut us down… another month of life.”
Let’s have a listen to “Olivia.” (Remember: this is an emotional one.)
We’re so excited to share Hello Industry’s track-by-track breakdown of the songs on their new EP, When I Was Young.
When I Was Young
“Remember when we used to dream of all the ways we’d save the world from everything?”
My wife and I have been married almost 15 years. We used to have so much energy. Our dreams were huge. Now we’re just trying to make it to the next day. What happened to our passion? What happened to the warmth between us? Will it ever be the way it was?
So Much For Love
“You took what you did, but they didn’t know it was for love.”
I feel like if we do things with sincere intent, if we never give up, if we try our best, things will turn out. It’s something I’ve always believed, but I’m not sure where I got it. Reality doesn’t always work that way. This really frustrates me.
Dream
“It’s just a dream. You don’t mean anything.”
Each person she meets is another glimmer of hope. Another human. A possible friend. Then they leave. No one sticks around. No one is dependable. In the end, she’s alone.
Done
“Will they remember me? Will they even mention me?”
This is the question that’s driven me most life. It will drive me to the end, and at that point I’ll realize, it was never about being remembered. No one will remember me. Once I can accept that, I’m free.
The Innocent Will Die (Anything Is Possible)
“Please don’t leave me alone. Anything is possible.”
I originally wrote this about a friend whose wife was dying of cancer. This song became a lot more personal when we received the news that our 4th child (2 months along at the time) had a fatal disease and would most likely not survive birth; if she did survive birth we’d have only a couple of hours with her.
I wanted to run, or hide, or avoid the whole thing by working or eating or buying things. But every time I stopped running, there it was again: Our reality. Our life. It wasn’t changing, and there was nothing I could do about it. *Please watch the music video for this!
So Am I
“You’re counting days, you’re killing time, you’re all but done, and so am I.”
While I laid in bed holding my 2 month old daughter who was on death’s door, these words played loud in my head. We sat in a room, hidden from society, inefficient, producing nothing, yet somehow we were beautiful. My entire life I believed the more productive and efficient I was, the more valuable I was. Now I found myself unable to accomplish anything except to hold my dying baby, who also would never accomplish a thing. This song describes a beauty I’d never known before Olivia – the original beauty of a person, untouched by the opinions and expectations of others.
Olivia
“This is life the way it is, but it’s real.”
I wrote this song for my daughter, Olivia. She was diagnosed with a fatal disease before she was born. She wasn’t supposed to make it to term. Then she wasn’t supposed to live through the first day. Then the first week. Then the first month. She wasn’t supposed to nurse, or eat bananas, or smile, or dance, but she did all of those things. She’s 10 months old today and is still “not supposed” to live. But she is. While she may not live as long a life as most people, she is living today, and we’re thankful for every day with her we get.
This song is about living life the way it is.
Inch Of Water
“It’s only an inch of water – not enough to make you drown.”
Fear has shut me down for so long. Living life the way it is, is scary. It’s painful. So I avoid it. I hop on the conveyor belt: I do what everyone else is doing, wear what they’re wearing, think how they think, measure myself the way they do. Deep down we want to get off – to live life, real life, with its pains and fears and embarrassments; with its risk and beauty and adventure and trying and failing and succeeding. Every one of us has wings – they’ve always been there. These fears that have held us down have no real hold on us, if decide to move. “You are not gonna die.”
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