Eric Hirshberg’s “Less Important Things” is a song about the aftermath of a full house. It does not begin with the milestone itself so much as the emotional climate that follows it: children grown, routines altered, noise gone, silence suddenly visible.
The new single is the latest preview of Hirshberg’s forthcoming album More Is Not The Answer, following “For Real feat. Aloe Blacc,” “We’re All In This Alone,” and the title track. Across these releases, Hirshberg has shown a consistent interest in the things people chase, the things they miss, and the things that remain important once distraction falls away.
On “Less Important Things,” that question becomes intimate. The song reflects on the empty nest, but it does so through the lens of a parent still adjusting to a new reality. There is tenderness in the writing, but also a little shock. Hirshberg captures the oddness of achieving the very thing parenthood is meant to prepare children for: independence.
The song’s emotional honesty is clearest in its refusal to make the experience neat. Letting go can be healthy, necessary, and beautiful. It can also hurt. “Less Important Things” understands that those truths can occupy the same space without canceling each other out.
That complexity is built into the lyric “You build this place to withstand a riot / It’s not supposed to be this quiet.” The line is memorable because it is grounded in the physical world. Anyone who has raised children, or lived in a family shaped by constant movement, can understand how silence might feel less like calm and closer to evidence of change.
Hirshberg’s performance is controlled and warm. He does not lean too hard into sadness, which helps the song maintain its balance. The arrangement follows his lead, starting from a place of understatement and gradually opening into something broader. It feels emotional without becoming overly dramatic.
The accompanying in-studio performance video is similarly direct. Filmed in an intimate studio environment, it focuses on Hirshberg and his band rather than turning the song into a narrative short film. That choice gives the release a sense of immediacy and keeps the attention on the writing.
There is also an interesting contrast between the subject of the song and Hirshberg’s larger public story. Before this chapter of his creative life, he spent years leading major companies in entertainment, gaming, and advertising. Those are worlds built around momentum, scale, and constant engagement. “Less Important Things” is concerned with something much quieter: the emotional meaning of a house after the pace changes.
That contrast gives the song added resonance, though it does not need outside biography to work. At its core, “Less Important Things” is about a parent recognizing that the most consuming years of family life were temporary, and that their temporary nature is part of what made them precious.
As Hirshberg continues to build toward More Is Not The Answer, this single feels like an important piece of the album’s larger puzzle. It brings the project’s themes of noise, clarity, and meaning into the home, where those ideas become less philosophical and more immediate.
“Less Important Things” is not trying to reinvent the empty-nest song. Its strength lies in patience, detail, and restraint. Hirshberg gives the feeling enough room to unfold, and that makes the song feel lived-in.
