When I first heard the name Marco Arroyo, known as Goodbye, Beautiful, his pseudonym led me to the following thoughts: how often do we hide behind these goodbyes? Is it a farewell to ourselves? To the world? To someone important?

His music has always felt like a space for silent therapy, where each track is a question, not an answer. Hang Fire, his new EP created in collaboration with Meg Baier, seems to confirm this notion. Only this time, the therapy becomes collective, and the music—a way to traverse not just miles, but the boundaries of inner barriers.

photo by @goodbyebeautiful

Since I’m allowed to ramble here, I’ll be honest. I was skeptical. Recording across state lines, sending demos via email, Zoom sessions filled with “Look, this part could be more interesting if you try softening it a bit”—it all sounded more like a technical experiment than a foundation for emotional depth. But from the very first seconds of Hang Fire, it became clear: I was wrong. This music isn’t about distance. It’s about what remains between us when distance becomes our shared landscape.

Goodbye, Beautiful was deep in the creative trenches—co-producing, drumming, and adding guitar layers to Meg’s solo project—when something clicked. Meg heard Arroyo’s instrumental work, and it was as if the music unlocked a door. Lyrics, melodies, and vocal ideas poured out of her effortlessly. That’s how it happened, plain and simple.

Hang Fire is a spatial work, as if two homes were tied together by a single thread stretched across desert and forest. At one point, I closed my eyes and realized: I wasn’t listening to music for analysis or anything else—I was simply enjoying it. The breaths between Meg Baier’s vocal lines felt like the hot winds of Arizona, while Arroyo’s deep bass resonated like echoes through Texas concrete. Their work is a kind of precarious tightrope you walk across, hoping not to fall.

Writing about Hang Fire in a conventional way feels almost dishonest. This EP has a different rhythm. You either catch it, or you keep chasing after something more familiar.

The opening track, Distress Signals, is both a song and a state of being. Meg Baier’s vocals are so light they seem as if they might be carried away by the wind. But they don’t—they hover above the soft percussion like pollen, invisibly settling and filling the room. Then, almost imperceptibly, the weight builds. The guitars convey catharsis—not theatrical, but the kind experienced internally, unnoticed by others.

photo by @goodbyebeautiful

How Will Grief Look on You tells a different story. There’s less movement here, more stillness. I’d call it a pause, but not for rest—more for reflection. The guitars weave quiet, deliberate patterns, and Meg’s voice draws closer.

Never Forget is the culmination of melancholy. Meg Baier sounds bare, her vocals so emotionally exposed that I often found myself not even listening to the lyrics—just feeling them.

The final track, Terroir, is liberation. It’s that moment when you finally exhale, but not completely. The guitars sound assured but never overpowering. Meg’s voice, at last, rises above the instruments. This is her moment, and she fully claims it.

I could go on praising the technical aspects of the EP, but that wouldn’t be the truth. This isn’t about craftsmanship. It’s about those moments when you stop and realize: you’ve just been embraced. Not tightly, but gently, as if someone asked if it still hurts. Goodbye, Beautiful has always been about that question.

The Hang Fire EP is a dialogue between Goodbye, Beautiful and Meg Baier, with each track turning into another page of their shared story. Created across the distance between Texas and Arizona, this project transforms geographic separation into a creative space where emotions find their voice even through screens. Physical borders? Please. That’s never been a barrier to deep musical (or otherwise) connection. Hang Fire feels like a memory carried across thousands of miles. Themes of loss and recovery run through the entire release, not just in the lyrics but in how the music itself builds tension and finds resolution.

The tracks move along an arc: from the fragility of the opening to the powerful catharsis of the finale. This is an experience that resonates in every detail. Goodbye, Beautiful and Meg Baier have crafted a work that finds its way into the heart, no matter where you are. Hang Fire is available on all digital platforms and ready to become part of your personal space.

*This review was made possible by SubmitHub