Brooklyn quartet Bear In Heaven’s second full-length Beast Rest Forth Mouth is out 10/13 on Hometapes. Before that, the collection’s first single “Wholehearted Mess” shows up on a 12″ EP with three remixes. We asked Bear founder Jon Philpot about the song and our favorite re-visioning, courtesy of Philadelphia’s Pink Skull.

What’s the song’s narrative?
It’s about a messed up mom and her kid. Their car overheated and they’re stranded on the highway. And It’s hot outside — 92 in the shade. She asks the kid to get out of the car so they can walk for help and he says no. He just wants things to be right. Why can’t we just be normal like everyone else? Trying to convince him to go, she sings him a song about how it’ll be fine — she wishes for help, gets none and leaves. I’m not advocating irresponsible parenthood. It is a party-ish song. It’s sort of cathartic for me.

Do you think the Pink Skull’s reworking shifts the meaning?
They totally flipped the track. Cut out all the words except for the first line and the word NO … over and over again. It’s genius! They changed the perspective and the meaning. You could say it’s from the kid’s perspective. No, I’m not going. No, I’m not listening to you. No, I won’t let you hear the words in this song. Then you become the Mom. No… No…. No…