When the January 2025 wildfires came close to Eric Hirshberg’s Los Angeles home, his family had only minutes between deciding to leave and driving away, plus two car trunks to fill with whatever they chose to save. They were among the lucky ones. The packing list stayed with him, and “More Is Not The Answer” grew out of what those few minutes revealed: how little of what he owned mattered, and how much the few things that did mattered.
The song runs the fire’s test on everything else. Its most pointed couplet looks around at the possessions that came through untouched and admits he wouldn’t want them back had they burned, then lands on the idea that “desire can be an untrustworthy friend.” It’s a striking line from someone whose career put him at the center of the attention economy, where wanting more is the product being sold.
Hirshberg keeps the writing direct and human-sized and sets it inside a wide, spacious arrangement, so the small personal details sit within something large. That framing fits the story: one family’s two trunks against a disaster that touched an entire city.
The restraint is what makes the argument land. Hirshberg builds it from a driveway and a deadline, which gives a familiar idea about excess the weight of something lived through. As the title track of his upcoming album, following his Aloe Blacc collaboration “For Real,” it sets a clear thesis for what comes next, drawn from the most honest inventory a person can take.
Leave a Reply