mad routine

fresh air - Mad Routine: Song & Music Video Review

Vevna Forrow

I discovered Mad Routine’s music back in 2025, and I’m so glad I did. Their music is truly a breath of fresh air—as a trip-hop/grunge band, their style is just mad cool. In their latest EP, Insomniac, released in February 2026, one of the songs is actually titled “fresh air,” too, which had its music video filmed at The Strathcona “Strath” Hotel in Victoria, BC.

I love how their music videos typically start out with a fun chat between Veela (Vanessa) and My City Glory (Cole) or a tidbit of an organic conversation, then transition into the song seamlessly. In “fresh air” we see a car drive, scenes from inside the hotel, and we even get to see them at Urge Tattoos getting their band’s iconic logo—an eye with a teardrop tattooed onto their arms too.

When you watch Mad Routine’s videos, it always feels like you’re tagging along on a trip or pit stop with them. Check out that song too, “trip” from their 2025 EP Pool Party. And something Mad Routine does is use much older camcorders and film camera models across their music videos, which gives them a professional, raw home-movie aesthetic that draws you in from start to finish. There’s no heavy special effects overlayed, zero CGI, nothing artificial at all, it’s them in a location, sometimes multiple, with their spot on vocals. A few of their music videos have had night-vision-like green lighting, reminding me of REC (2007) and Quarantine (2008). I personally love found footage films such as Exists (2014) and As Above, So Below (2014), but of course, their music videos are not on the horror spectrum.

Now, lyrics, as we all know, can be interpreted differently. I think whenever we see a loved one under the weather, we wish to be there for them and help restore their health to 100%, or someone we love may wish to help us heal, which is what the lyrics in “fresh air” made me think about. If you listen to other songs within the EP, the lyrics of “fresh air” also indicates a push and pull relationship existing in a sense—locking one out of the room, or having someone who keeps wanting to help someone get better, maybe they know what they’re going through or maybe not, either way they as the clock ticks down, they wish to be there or get through despite no replies. On the other hand, sometimes people may overcare or others may not, as the song suggests in the lyrics to not want to be shielded constantly nor have one’s involvement or protection in their situation—perhaps it’s a suffocating feeling when someone is trying to watch over you 24/7. Although some challenges cannot be faced alone, ultimately in life, and like the other song “hesitation,” on the EP emphasizes that some heartbeats are akin to vitamins A, B, C, D, and K to us.

I feel that the Insomniac EP has phenomenal production around it and stresses the importance of not hiding pain and also the uphill battle some human beings may have either physically or mentally as some of the other songs tap into that the darker side of that like “rot” and sometimes some people don’t have our backs, leave, hide in the shadows just watching from afar how it plays out, or do not fully comprehend the extent of our hurdle(s). However, across our lives we all face pain, or commonalities as I have said before, and music has been proven to also make our hearts better, not just people too. For some, music and art, or something they’re passionate about, is always there for them, such as poetry (those of you reading this through our Dipity Lit Mag channel, of course, know that). It’s super hard to pick just one song, so that’s why I’m straying a bit— mentioning a few others and discussing the EP as a whole a bit here.

Overall, from the Insomniac EP, my personal fave song would be “hesitation,” and another one, “control,” aside from this one in the review. I already shared “hesitation” around a bit on our channels earlier, so I went with another “fresh air.” However, all the songs are spectacular! I loved their music so much I had to pick up a cassette of the Insomniac EP, which includes some bonus songs on SIDE B (not available on streaming platforms or elsewhere) as pictured below.

I grew up collecting VHS tapes, cassettes, and more, in fact at my first I.T. workplace, I had an upcycled cassette case converted into a business card holder and a blue 4x4 floppy disk pencil holder from an Etsy shop. My folks sadly tossed out most of the original attic collection we had in our fam upon moving, so waiting for a new cassette player to arrive in the mail.

Physical media is still very much important in the 21st century; it just has a different feel to it or nostalgic comfort in a sense. Additionally, streaming platforms such as Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, etc. have neat features, but they do take quite a bit away from musicians overall when it comes to royalties, and on top of this. I think we can all agree that we don’t see eye-to-eye with some of these streaming platforms’ backend operational decisions. It’s really nice to hold onto something directly from a band you love. I do see quite a few bands offering their music in more than one physical format nowadays, for others to pick up, and it’s always fun to see what bands come up with in terms of merch designs.

While I don’t suffer from insomnia, due to physical pain, I sometimes sleep a bit better with a loop of a few songs and artists with some softer vocals or tones incorporated. For example, “rude instinct” is definitely my fave song of theirs from In A Mood. I would love to see some instrumental releases of their songs one day too, but not fully just instrumentals, perhaps keeping some of the intro and end portions of the songs if they ever did instrumental-focused versions, because they are def awesome, like “hesitation” and “rude instinct.”

Overall, some bands or duos’ voices go together incredibly well, like marshmallows and chocolate or peanut butter and jelly, and I think we can all agree that Veela and My City Glory’s vocals side-by-side in every Mad Routine song are amazing. They’ve truly become one of my all-time fave bands in existence, and I look forward to hearing their next releases!

Memorable Lyric: "Forever, forever, yes I wanna make you better"

RATING: 4.8 OUT OF 5

Remember to add “fresh air” to your playlist(s) and take a look at Mad Routine's music out on these channels or your preferred streaming platform, find them @madroutinemusic on Instagram and elsewhere.