SPILL FEATURE: A SONIC MIRROR INTO INTERNAL ADVERSITY – A CONVERSATION WITH WIND WALKERS

A SONIC MIRROR INTO INTERNAL ADVERSITY

A CONVERSATION WITH WIND WALKERS

Music helps us deal with many things in our lives. For the band Wind Walkers, finding a way to talk about the things we often keep in the deepest parts of ourselves, unable to discern at times who or what is the right time to reveal these intimate pieces of ourselves into a world outside of ours. Wind Walkers’ new EP, I Don’t Belong Here, dives further into this idea, composed of six blade-sharp tracks. Vocalist Trevor Borg opens up about his own struggles, transforming the anxiety and restlessness of neurodivergence into a musical tapestry of potent guitar riffs and glitch-infused electronic elements, forging a soundscape where collective intensity and risk meet personal vulnerability. However, the title of such a deeply emotional EP stemmed from a very lighthearted concept. Such contradictions match Borg’s personality: one who is funny, lighthearted, and deeply passionate about his work.

“We had all the songs written, it was kind of, what’s the name, you know? And that line just kind of really stuck with us in a lot of different ways. I think, throughout the EP, one of the themes is the idea of not belonging here, feeling different, and trying to understand why you are the way you are. So that’s one reason. But like, for us too, it’s almost like a joke,” laughs Borg. “You know, we’re like, sometimes you’re playing some of these shows, and we’re just like, you know, act like you’ve been here. It’s just like an inside joke. With us, we just say it, I don’t belong here. Like we went and checked out the serious studio and stuff like that. We’re just, like, dropping that line left and right. So I think it names the theme of the EP really well, but there’s like, really just, like, a personal connection with us, too. You know, we’re just kind of doing these, these things we’ve never done before. So, it’s been really cool.”

Having that kind of lighthearted sense behind his songwriting has helped the vocalist dig deep and face his insecurities. While his diagnosis of ADHD happened after the creation of this EP, having the answers to this underlying question has brought a sense of relief, finally explaining the sense of otherness and emotional turbulence that simmered beneath the surface. Naming his struggles and channeling them into the lyrics of I Don’t Belong Here has become a powerful act of self-acceptance in a world that was once filled with confusion and self-doubt. I Don’t Belong Here has transformed his labyrinth of confusion into clarity and vulnerability into creative freedom.

I DON’T BELONG HERE ALBUM REVIEW

“I think it has always unintentionally affected how I write and just how I confess things through music. It’s pretty funny, like I didn’t actually get diagnosed until after we had written everything. So, it was like something, but I never really knew what that something was for the last few years. It’s something that I was kind of like aware of, you know.  If anything, it just kind of served as, like, kind of looking back at the music and being like, oh, that’s kind of cool. So, with “Silk and Static,” I think, was, like, unintentionally, like a song about ADHD, you know? I was just listening to the instrumental, and I related to it. It’s very chaotic, you know. And I was like, I’m gonna write a song about how that feels,” replies Borg. “I think I definitely put a lot less thought into that kind of stuff. I’ve always been inspired by music written with rawness, much like the music I grew up on. So, it’s always, always how I thought music was supposed to be done. So that’s just how I’ve always written, you know, like it’s these songs are always kind of like a snapshot of my life and like my thoughts at that time. And it’s always been kind of like my therapy, too. I think one of the biggest things, like therapy, is being self-aware of things, you know. So, like, I’ve even wondered, like, what if I break with the last album? Like, there are songs I wrote when I felt tension in my life, and once the song was done, it felt like a release. I could listen back on the song and be like, Man, that’s a weird way to look at that, you know.  It’s just always been my therapy. It’s just who I am, like a journal entry, almost.”

Rather than viewing ADHD as a limitation, Borg frames this newly formed information about himself: intense hyperfocus, unpredictable energy, and emotional peaks as the binding string that weaves the fabric of Wind Walker’s sound together. This openness has challenged the stigma of those who often hide this part of themselves from others and the world and instead affords listeners to feel comfortable about their mental health, opening up a deeper dialogue about mental diversity. By molding his lived experience directly into his lyrics and instrumental framework of their sound, Borg has manipulated his own personal challenges into collective empowerment, underscoring the EP’s message that feeling out of place is not always negative; it can fuel and even inspire artistic transformation.

“It’s something that I just kind of go for. It is really scary, though. You know, I’m 32 years old. I’ve been doing this, like, for a very long time, and, like, for the longest time, my music, you know, and only my friends would listen to it, you know what I mean?” says Borg. I started really feeling the stress of that when What If I Break came out. That was the first time that, like, more people are listening to it and asking, ‘What are these songs about?’ They’re about very real feelings and people. I started to freak out a little bit, so I kind of felt myself holding back. But then my wife actually told me —I don’t remember exactly what we were talking about — but she mentioned that she knows I can dig deeper. It just really inspired me, because I felt like I could, you know? I definitely think I had some walls up, but with this one, I tore them down and dug a lot deeper than before. Last night and today, I’ve been sweating bullets. You know what I mean?  It’s like a few of the songs already out, like “Hereditary” and “Sink Into Me.” Like, those songs are very real, very personal songs for me. It’s scary to finally toss those out there and then answer questions about them, like this, you know, but I think it’s important. I guess that’s what I’m wrapping around to here, I think it’s extremely important. I think we have a group of people who feel that connection because it is honest, just like how I connected to music when I was growing up —very honest music that cuts to your soul.  So, it’s something I want to continue doing, but I think it’s also a learning process. I don’t want all my dirt in my life to be out there, you know? But I think it reflects life in other people and their struggles, writing about what you can, and making people feel seen or less alone in those feelings.”

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