Setting the tone with an exquisite alternative rock guitar soundscape demonstrating instrumental mastery and intricacy, Rosso Tierney opens This Gun with notions of timelessness before sharing the lyrics, “Do I wanna be remembered? What will I leave behind? I’m leaving all the skeletons that one day you will find…”
We immediately connect with the introspective nature of the prose and the poetic prowess that Rosso Tierney demonstrates. The emotional build of the track is sublime, and the hook really resonates with us.
In essence, This Gun is about deep rooted emotional pain. The lyrics show how one might reflect on their legacy. The repeated hook “lay by this gun” suggests a moment of crisis and confrontation with darkness.
The song also showcases notions of inner struggle and resilience. The concept of a “pool of pain inside my brain” points to the depression and the mental anguish that many of us might experience, in this sense it is really relatable and zeitgeist.
There is both despair and strength in his voice. This really comes through with the line, “I got up to run…”, which shows elements of optimistic and how our protagonist has fought through pain before. Rather than glorifying harm, This Gun captures the tension between giving up and choosing to endure.
We learn that This Gun is designed around the moment where a soldier confronts mortality, legacy and the choice of what parts of their past to carry forward or leave behind. The philosophical artist tells us, “This Gun is about the human side of conflict. Soldiers are not machines – they carry fear, love, memories and doubt with them into battle. But the song is also about our own personal wars. We all reach moments that change us forever, and we have to decide what parts of ourselves survive.”
Rosso Tierney cites Foo Fighters, Asking Alexandria, Youngblud, and Ozzy Osbourne as sonic influences, which we can feel come through with This Gun, although there is no doubt that the rising artist from York in England is manifesting a sound of his own. We could imagine the track locking in a plethora of sync placements, notably a recreation of Apocalypse Now, or Platoon.
Needless to say, we are in awe, and captivated by both the song and music video. We have added This Gun to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and our TIMELESS playlist, whilst we continue to stream the wider discography of Rosso Tierney, including Set You Free, and 93.