B-Side Guys

The door is supposed to protect you from what’s outside. Best Noodles In Town’s “Mushroom Tea,” the third release from their waterfall EP strategy launched twenty-three days ago, transforms the simple act of answering a knock into a meditation on self-destructive loyalty. The band name suggests comfort food, but this track delivers something considerably more bitter—a slow-acting emotional toxin disguised as alternative rock accessibility.

“Bracing/The front door with my side/In case your/Habits been supplied” opens the track with physical imagery that immediately establishes both vulnerability and preparation for impact. This juxtaposition—simultaneously defensive and permeable—captures the exhausting contradiction of loving someone whose presence has become dangerous. The vocalist’s delivery carries the weight of someone who has rehearsed this confrontation countless times but continues to fail when the moment arrives.

What distinguishes “Mushroom Tea” from standard addiction-adjacent relationship commentary is how it focuses on the enabler’s psychology rather than the addict’s journey. Lines like “Shouldn’t let you in but/I do and don’t know why” reveal the narrator’s bewildering complicity in their own emotional destruction. This perspective shift creates space for examining the particular form of self-harm that comes through repeatedly choosing hope over evidence.

The track’s emotional architecture builds through accumulation rather than explosive dynamics, mirroring how toxic relationships erode boundaries gradually rather than dramatically. When the chorus arrives with “Couldn’t let you go/Unforgivable/One more chance to get it right before your funeral,” the casual proximity of “chance” and “funeral” creates a chilling recognition of mortality as deadline rather than wake-up call.

Instrumentally, the arrangement supports this emotional heaviness without overwhelming the lyrical content. The alternative rock framework provides familiar structure while allowing space for the more unsettling elements to breathe. This production choice suggests a band confident enough in their material to avoid distracting listeners from the psychological complexity being explored.

The song’s most devastating moment arrives with “And it’s been so long since your better half has died/I can’t even recognize you anymore.” This personification of addiction as death of identity hits harder than more obvious metaphors, capturing the specific grief of watching someone disappear while their body remains present. The follow-up accusation—”You’re offended by the way that everything shook out”—reveals the additional burden of being blamed for consequences the narrator didn’t create but couldn’t prevent.

As part of their unnamed EP’s waterfall release strategy, “Mushroom Tea” demonstrates Best Noodles In Town’s willingness to tackle difficult emotional territory without resorting to sensationalism or easy resolution. The track refuses to provide comfortable moral clarity, instead examining the complicated space where love, enabling, and self-preservation intersect. Sometimes the most dangerous doors are the ones we keep opening despite knowing exactly what waits on the other side.