Show Me How

The song that made Men I Trust a bedroom-pop institution. "Show Me How" is built almost entirely from restraint: a soft, rubbery bass that carries the melody, a bone-dry drum machine tapping in the background, chords that hover rather than resolve, and a wash of chorus-drenched guitar that appears only to disappear. Emma Proulx sings barely above a whisper, her voice mixed close and unadorned so every breath registers — no vibrato, no belting, no attempt to convince you of anything. That flatness is the point; the emotion sits underneath, not on top. The lyric is a plea disguised as a shrug, someone asking to be taught how to want less, or how to leave, or how to stay — the words are vague enough that listeners have poured a decade of their own longings into them. It arrived in 2018 from Quebec City and quietly became one of the most-streamed independent songs of its era, an anchor for a whole aesthetic of late-night YouTube mixes and hazy playlists. Best heard alone in a dim room after midnight, or on a bus with the city sliding by, when you want music that keeps you company without asking questions.