Toronto songwriter and composer Neil Haverty (frontman of alt-folk ensemble Bruce Peninsula, and composer of the Wildhood soundtrack) returns with “What I Don’t Need,” a contemplative indie single that grapples with the tension between personal autonomy and the responsibilities we carry toward others.
Written and performed by Haverty and produced by long-time collaborator Leon Taheny (Owen Pallett, Weaves), “What I Don’t Need” builds from pensive, isolated verses into a cathartic chorus explosion, echoing the songwriter’s own struggles to balance quiet reflection with outward expression. Dark synths underscore the mood, while dynamic drums and guitar riffs deliver moments of intensity, mirroring the push-and-pull between independence and interdependence.

“The title/refrain are intentionally cagey and avoidant,” Haverty explains. “I’m resistant to being told what to do even if it’s born of love and care for me. When you struggle with decision paralysis, you don’t want to re-litigate the decisions you already managed to make. That said, there’s a lot about oneself that is hard to see personally, but that friends and loved ones can easily spot. This song is about trying to listen to those voices, trying to see yourself as you’re seen and the responsibility to act that sometimes comes with that.”

1. Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically? 
Animator Luca Tarantini (aka AOK) was recommended to me at a party and I was blown away when I looked into his work. When I reached out to him, I gave him a bunch of songs to consider and this is the one that most resonated with him. It was one of my favourite songs, so I was happy when he chose it to work on. A music video extends the life of a song well after recording and mixing and I thought it was worthy of that kind of extra attention. Aesthetically, I was very happy with the way the recording of What I Don’t Need turned out, and I think Leon (who recorded it with me) and Luca both hit the nail on the head for the mood I was trying to strike. The song is a bit of a tug-of-war between quiet internalizing and brash externalizing, and the visual gives it more dimension from there. 

2.What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)? 
Luca came back to me with our monkey protagonist really early, and I was hooked when he told me it was a 3D scan of a 2700 year old statue. As we talked it back and forth we ended up adding some narrative arc and arrived at something he’s described as “

Dante’s Inferno meets Night at the Museum”. I think alot is being said by the monkey’s longing movements, but it’s obviously pretty abstract as well. We both have our feelings about what our monkey goes through and learns over the course of the video and we figured out we have slightly different perspectives on that. I think there’s something great about those viewpoint differences, and won’t go into specifics because I hope viewers have their own interpretations too. 

3. What was the process of making this video?

I was lucky enough to see it improve in huge leaps each time he would send a new update over the year or two it took to make it. Luca lived with it more intimately and no doubt fought some battles with it that I wasn’t privvy to. He completed the video around 2022, just before AI tools started to get introduced that would have helped reduce his workload, so we’ve been referring to the animation as being done “the old fashioned way”. I don’t think your average person thinks too much about how intensely labour intensive animation has been as an artform, where each frame is massaged and managed in one way or another and every bit of magic you feel was because an animator poured themselves into it. Obviously that magnifies the further you go back in time to hand-made animation, but the pre-AI version of it was still pretty hefty in terms of hours spent at the computer. I’m grateful that Luca is an artist at heart and that all that time doesn’t tax him too much to see it through. In the end, we have this beautiful piece of art we can both be really proud of, having each spent quality time building out the song in our own ways.