Life As I Know It

…caught in the slightest wind, everything else unravels ((Hurricane — The Hush Sound))

This post is dedicated to the song from above. Hurricane is possibly one of the most beautiful, haunting songs I’ve ever had the pleasure to listen to. On a personal scale, it ranks high with others such as Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy and Hammers & Strings by Jack’s Mannequin.

I’ll start with the melody. It’s the kind of music that is so simple, yet so unique. It’s not in your face, it’s very subtle, but it makes you feel like just stopping everything to listen. It’s “sigh” music as I call it. Aka music that just feels like you’re sighing. Not in the *sigh* I’m a ten year old girl talking to my friend online kind of way, but in the deep, lost, romantic kind of way. I’m not sure if that makes any sense whatsoever, but that’s as best as I can describe it. The piano is such a beautiful instrument, but I’m biased.

The lyrics perfect the melody. They’re like coffee and muffins or toes and feet — they simply BELONG together. The lyrics create the perfect mood to match the melody. It’s melancholic, hopeful, haunting, and a tad regretting. It feels like a look into the past, thinking of someone who you can never truly escape but can never be with either because it’s too straining. Greta’s voice flows with the music in a way that just makes me loathe her for being so amazing. Her voice is the best combination of classical and popular style singing. I won’t say perfection, because nothing is perfect, but this song is pretty damn near close.

I can’t really say much more about it. It’s just one of those songs I have to stop whatever I’m doing, close my eyes, and just let it pour into my brain, letting it hit everything just so I can feel how raw and powerful it is, how she can turn sadness into beauty.

Yes. So here’s my ridiculously long review of Bloc Party’s album Intimacy. I’m a little behind on getting it, but whatever.

_______________________________________

Alright, I finally, FINALLY got the latest Bloc Party album entitled Intimacy, released on October 28^th. First things first – my overall impression.

It fucking blew me away.

I loved their first album. Their second, not so much. And now the third, I can’t even begin to describe (but I will). I’m breaking this one down song by song, unlike my usual overall reviews where I point out things in a few songs. My first impression of the title + the cover = sexually infused techno about sex (of course). What I got was that…and SO much more. It’s an album of love and loss. Here goes.

1. Ares – What a great way to start off an album. It’s fast, loud, and in your face. The overlays on the lyrics make it hard to understand at some points, and its overall impression is a little confusing. It opens with “war war war war” and ends with “we dance to the sound of sirens, we dance to the sound”. In between there’s lines like “get out of the way, or get fucked up” and “keep the past, the future is ours, man made natural disaster”. So this song will remain kind of a mystery to me, but the energy and the random catchy lines make a great start.
2. Mercury – Not my favorite on the album, but still good. It seems to be kind of a prelude to the rest of the album, the opener (despite the fact that it’s 2^nd). It says that “this is not the time to start a new love” and “try not to worry about what’s forgotten”. I think it’s a self explanatory song.
3. Halo –The title of the blog is a line from this song. It’s basically a love song that kind of starts a story that ends up badly in later songs. Lines include “a moth to your light bulb, you made my heart beat faster”, but it ends on a down note that will introduce the heartbreak of this love later – “sometimes I think, I would float away, if this sadness did not weigh me down”.
4. Biko – I feel like this song kind of sets a mood for the middle section of the album. It transitions from the upbeat of Halo to a haunting, heartbreaking serenade. Some lines I picked out were “was my love strong enough to bring you back from the dead, if I could eat your cancer I would, but I can’t, so I keep writing these songs for you” and “every tear you shed is cleansing, taking the pain away from you, I left you blueberries in the fridge, the little things that I can do”, and last but not least “biko toughen up, I need you to be strong for us”. I did a little research, and the word ‘Biko’ means ‘dear’ in Igbo, a language spoken in Nigeria (where the lead singer, Kele Okereke’s parents were born). Basically, it’s a song about losing someone. “You’re not doing this alone” was a line that hit me pretty hard. It’s completely beautiful in all its tragedy.
5. Trojan Horse – You can kind of guess from the title that this one is one of those “sexually infused” ones I spoke about earlier. But what surprised me is that it was just about sex, it follows the trend of Biko on a sadder note (but with a faster pace). The sex side of it has lines such as “you used to take your watch off before we made love”. The sadder side says “you were here, I was here, there was something real here” and “you know I still adore you but in a different kind of way”, as well as “forever trying to find you on the lips of someone else”. The song is catchy, and relatable in the sense that he has lost someone important and is trying to find someone as good to replace said person. To me, it has kind of a defiant undertone, not really sure how, but I feel it (maybe no one else does though!)
6. Signs – On the same trend of sadness, signs is on the same level as Biko. Tragic, haunting, mixed with a strong yet soft melody. It seems to be a song of memories of someone lost, possibly one of my favorites on the album. It combines lines such as “at your funeral I was so upset, so upset, in your life you were larger than this, statuesque” with “I believe in anything that brings you back home to me” and “I see signs now all the time, that you’re not dead, you’re sleeping”. Probably one of the most heartbreaking songs I’ve heard in a while. It just gets in your head; it’s that amazing.
7. One Month Off – Total turn around from Signs, One Month off is upbeat, loud, and in your face, like Ares but not quite as extreme. “I can be as cruel as you”, “we can’t survive on your bedroom eyes and a Spanish guitar”, “tell me what the others can do that I can’t”, and finally “how can you desert me after all we’ve been through” speaks more of a breakup than the death of Signs and Biko. But, it still carries the underlying sadness of loss in general. The idea of what can others do better and desertion contributes to the combination of the vulnerable question of ‘what the fuck went wrong?’ and the angry ‘well I can be cruel too’ with a spiteful twist. Delicious.
8. Zephyrus – Continuing the trend of One Month Off, this is definitely a break up song, but less about lies and cruelty end, and more of a regretful tone that blames it on himself. “Baby I’m ashamed of the things I put you through, baby I’m ashamed of the man I was for you” and “and all you said in your quietest voice was ‘I needed you as much as they do’” contributes to the tone. The background chorus that sings adds a layer of depth that I really like because it blends really well with the actual music.
9. Talons – What a blunt song was my first impression. I see the song as a direct attack at a woman who broke his heart, the talons that “rake the side of [his] face” I see as hers when he sings “oh when did you become such a slut” and “you’ve saddened my friends and claimed all my lovers” . She almost seems like a disease or a curse within the content of the song, with all the “when it comes it will feel”… type lines. Interesting song, interesting lyrics. There isn’t a whole lot to say.
10. Better Than Heaven – This song puzzled me a little. I absolutely love the line “It’s only sin, original sin”. I was absolutely confused by the line “Corinthians (15:22)”. I looked it up, and that biblical line is “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” ??? Then it continues with some sexual infusion – “put down your books and molest me”. As odd as that line is, and as confused as I am, it’s kind of what makes me adore this band. They’re blunt yet complex, and like nothing else I’ve ever heard. I’m not really sure about this song, I’m not even sure if I like it (the best kind of song is one that you really grow to love, so hopefully that will happen).
11. Ion Square – This is said to be the most personal song for Kele on the record. It’s a very specific recollection of a past memory about a level of trust and love not found in the other breakup songs. “How we’ve come to depend on each other to the end” , and “I breathe out, you breathe in, permanent midnight, our love, our love” show a connection he has not had to others in the previous songs. “and the hunger of those early years will never return, but I don’t mind, I don’t mind, cause I love my mind when I’m fucking you” is sexually charged yet include a romantic trust that other songs lacked when songs like Mercury have lines with “I am sleeping with people I don’t even like”. The final lines “I carry your heart here with me, I carry it in my heart” close the song nicely. And while I still feel it’s about love and trust, I feel it still refers to the breakup because those last lines have the feeling that they are no longer together, yet he still loves her.
12. Letter To My Son – I honestly have no clue with this song. I like the music, but I couldn’t really grasp what it was about.
13. Your Visits are Getting Shorter – The song is about the breakup, but focuses more on the losing her side of things, and wishing he hadn’t. “your kisses are pining for the lips of someone else” and “your heart is getting further from me” show her slipping away, while “when you get older and those boys grow tired of you, you can come find me, I can never hate you” show that he still loves her, much like the last line from Ion Square.
14. Flux – It opens with “if your right hand is causing you pain, cut it off, cut it off”. “We need to talk” is repeated towards the end, and “we were hoping for some romance, all we found was more despair, we must talk about our problems, we are in a state of flux” is the ending verse. The song personally feels like a farewell. It’s the ending of everything. It closes up the story of the relationship with the hope that it is not truly over because things are constantly changing (in a state of flux). And by story, I don’t mean that it’s fake.

To sum up this ridiculously long review, this album was completely amazing. It combines love, death, heartbreak, and hope with a techno edge and the voice of Kele that you will not hear anywhere else. This album is one of a kind and more than I could have hoped for in a third album from them, especially after my distaste for their second. Give it a chance. I didn’t like it the first time I listened to it all the way through in all honesty. The second time was pretty eye opening, so make sure if you didn’t like it to give it a second chance. You never know what could happen!! Now I’m going to listen to Silent Alarm (their first), because I can, and because it’s such a classic.