Listen To Andrew McMahon's End-Of-Summer Soundtrack, "High Dive"

    BuzzFeed premieres the second track from the pop punk hero's latest project.

    Erica Futterman
    by Erica Futterman

    BuzzFeed Staff

    After fronting the bands Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin, Andrew McMahon is going the solo route and releasing music as Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness.

    Brendan Walter

    The first single from his upcoming album, a love letter to his newborn daughter, was released last month. Check it out here.

    Now you can listen to a second track, "High Dive," exclusively on BuzzFeed:

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    View this track on SoundCloud
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    It pairs several hallmarks of McMahon's music – poppy, piano-driven melodies with a love of astronomical metaphors – with a dance-y underbelly and tale of love at a distance.

    McMahon told BuzzFeed last month his forthcoming record, also titled Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, reflects the last several years of his life.

    underthegunreview.net

    "I started focusing on all the things I'd been ignoring, like my marriage, my mental health, and my confidence, which is something that had been hit hard, and my crazy post traumatic stress disorder from my cancer that I never addressed," he said, referring to putting out three albums with Jack's Mannequin after being diagnosed with – and successfully beating – Leukemia.

    "High Dive" in particular is a "what if?" scenario about McMahon's relationship with his wife:

    Andrew McMahon

    "When I found out I was ill, nearly 10 years ago now, my wife, then girlfriend, and I had just begun the process of reconciling after being separated," McMahon told BuzzFeed over email. "We married in the midst of my recovery and left the beach towns where we grew up to hide out in Los Angeles. Moving back to the beach in 2011 began the process of closing the loop on that chapter of my life and forced me to revisit lose ends. In 'High Dive' I found myself asking the question, 'if this wild disruption had never taken place what would that reconciliation have looked like? Would I be the guy driving by her house late at night, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but knowing I couldn't come in?' In its most universal sense it's about loving someone so much that you'll take anything they're willing to give even if it's not enough."

    Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness is out on October 14th, and you can pre-order it on iTunes now.