I remember the first time I listened to Del Water Gap, it was a single called “High Tops”. I was sitting in my bed when Spotify smart shuffled my playlist. This song was something that made me feel emotionally seen, and at the moment it felt like fate. After encountering this feeling, I dove into his debut album “Del Water Gap” which was released in 2021.
Del Water Gap is the indie pop solo project of Samuel Holden Jaffe, an American musician born and raised in Connecticut. While at a boarding school in New York, Jaffe first recorded as Del Water Gap, his was inspired by the Delaware Water Gap.
“I Hope You Understand” deals with the internal conflict of trying to make sense of a relationship, whether it’s about romantic love, friendship, or a personal connection, expressing a kind of emotional turbulence and a fear of not being fully understood or accepted by the person being addressed.
The lyrics “I took your hands and worried, how, without me, you’d live,” speak to a raw sense of vulnerability in me with the battle of always feeling disposable and watching people be able to lead a normal life as if my presence had never affected them.
Specifically, this takes me to a place in my head about a very prominent and tumultuous break-up I had earlier this year. I see this song through the lens of outgrowing that relationship and not necessarily having a logical reasoning behind it, but regardless, of it being over and having to deal with the harsh reality of that.
“Falling sicker and sicker with the bartering of myself,” is another lyric that echoes the feeling of having emotional scars, and as a result blaming yourself. After every falling out I’ve had, I quickly begin constantly ridiculing my personality because there has to be a factor in the way I act that has driven people away.
Though this song has a narrative that everything will be okay in the end, it simultaneously shows the powerful message that everyone has these thoughts and feelings until they reach that point, and that is what I love about it.
“Bug Bites” is the tenth song on this album and it deals with the discomfort and frustration of being in a relationship or dealing with personal issues that leave emotional marks.
The imagery of “bug bites” is a metaphor for the small, irritating, and often invisible ways in which relationships or experiences leave a lasting impact on you.
“I can’t let you go, but I can’t really have you” is the lyric that resonates with me the most. It is reminiscent of knowing that someone isn’t good for you, but your heart just isn’t ready to let go.
Pining after someone who doesn’t truly understand me or care about my deeper feelings towards them, this song traces back to every “situationship” I have ever been in. Relationships that are filled with lingering regrets, unspoken feelings, and unresolved issues that continue until the emotional baggage I have weighs me down.
The last song on this album is arguably one of the most impactful songs that Del Water Gap has created. “Shortest Love Song” resonates with anyone who has experienced love or longing that felt intense but brief.
The song speaks to the fleeting nature of human connection, which helped me realize that not all relationships have the time or space to fully blossom, even while my emotions still feel deeply significant.
With its tender lyrics and soothing melody, this song encapsulates the bittersweet essence of love and longing. Throughout the song, Jaffe narrates a conversation between two lovers, expressing their desires, regrets, and shortcomings.
He starts the song by saying, “Is our love the hurting kind? I fear to say it is.” Hoping things would be different, but the fear of that truth is overwhelming. There’s the question that I constantly ask myself whether love is worth the pain it brings or if it’s only a cycle of hurt that can’t be broken.
He follows this up with the lyric, “You say you’ve wished I’d moved to Spain, or that one of us would die of hypertension,” and then, “I miss my best friend, but babies need to eat, they beg attention.”
This brings me to an emotional state of breaking up with someone amicably, wishing they would have burnt that bridge by doing something bigger than falling out of love with you. The lyrics about missing your best friend also cut deep in a way that you’re not only losing someone romantically, but you’re losing a bond that can never be replaced.
Perfectly ending the album and encapsulating all of the feelings that are prevalent throughout his other tracks, this song evokes feelings of nostalgia or loss but also acceptance—acknowledging that not all love stories are meant to last and that sometimes the most profound connections are the ones that leave an imprint, even if they don’t endure.
