First Breath After Coma
0:00. No, seriously, I totally smiled as soon as I heard the first note. There was a span of maybe three seconds where I knew they were going to open with this when Vicki and I saw them live, and I'm pretty sure that I achieved perfect bliss at that moment. I didn't even hear any of the song yet, but I just realized that I was seeing it live, right in front of me, and it was going to be amazing.
2:28. This feels like the first verse to me, and it's because of the drums in the background. It took me a while before I really appreciated the drums throughout this album, and it certainly drives the music, and is what makes it so powerful for me. I know I'll be talking about this soon....
3:21. These are the drums I was talking about, this is the driving force of "First Breath." The guitar around 3:43 is just perfect, so much so that I can't even figure out how to explain it. It happens again around 4:08, and that guitar with the drums is what the first half of the song is all about.
6:43. These drums are just perfect here.
7:47. The heartbeat drums come back, and this is when I know the end of the song, that final note, is coming. It's an awesome anticipation.
9:18. Again, the last note, and live, they held this last note, this feedback sound, while they set themselves up for their next song. It was really cool, and it made it feel like it lasted forever.
The Only Moment We Were Alone
0:27. Just for my own information, this is when the first smash comes in. And by smash, I mean one of the guitarists hits the base of his strings with his hand. Didn't know that's how they made that sound, and it was really cool to see it happen live. There was also some kind of intro that made it seem like they were playing this song, but could have been anything else; it was neat.
2:09. This is my favorite song off this album to play on the piano. Probably because it's the only one I can actually play most of, but this minute or so here is what I really want to learn all of. I can just do a couple parts' worth, and the whole thing together would sound really good, and feel crafty as a pianist.
3:24. EITS once said that this album was their attempt at love songs, and this part here makes that seem true for me. The way that they put everything together, all the sounds they use, kind of represents all the emotions that we feel. Just a feeble attempt at an interpretation.
5:29. One time long ago, while listening to this album, I came up with a theory that this album could be considered a metaphor for life. Or perhaps metonymy, if my literature studies are accurate. "First Breath" is the baby being born into the world, this song is the excitement of growing up, "Six Days" is the true growing up, "Memorial" is the swan song, and "Your Hand In Mine" is the sendoff. It was more elaborate when I came up with it, and have since forgotten, but that seemed fairly accurate to what I remembered.
7:54. I never fail to get goosebumps during this part. The buildup is absolutely spectacular, and I can always feel a hand squeezing mine tighter and tighter until the song ends.
9:28. I know the click is at 9:27, but for the first time, I'm thinking about what happens after, and all I can picture is one of the first scenes in Inception.Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean
2:13. Great guitar interplay here.
2:31. I love the interplay even more here, specifically at places like 2:43 and 2:55. The best part is at 3:08...the two guitar parts just fight against each other for a brief moment of time, and then resolve together. Goosebumps rereading that sentence.
4:12. It's really cool to think about how my perceptions of this album have changed over time. I remember listening to these songs as early as junior year of high school, and now, four years later (FOUR YEARS LATER), they mean something completely different, despite the fact that it's always been the same music, the same notes.
5:43. I think this is another round of open-palm-on-guitar, and I've honestly thought it was just drums until now.
6:22. The background drums are really cool in this part, and it very subtly picks up more beats throughout the measures.
6:59. Love this part. Totally encapsulates the cat-and-mouse game I describe in my first run-through of this album. Would have been really cool to see the end of this song live.
Memorial
0:00. Really would have loved for them to play this song when I saw them live with Vicki, because she totally hates this song. Because of that, this might be the fifth-most-liked song on the album for me, but it's still a really cool song to listen to, and to pick apart the bass notes for the first couple of minutes.
1:49. I can just picture everyone waiting for one of the bassist to pick up the next note while this is ringing.
3:50. I can't stress enough the importance of the heartbeat throughout this album. At least, it seems so, if you've been following along thus far.
4:18. Cool few measures here.
5:42. It takes a while, but the song quiets down very gradually from here. It might not even start until 6:02 or 6:17 (definitely 6:17).
6:17. The song quiets down very gradually from here. It's really cool because I know it's going to have that awesome crash coming, but you have to get ever so quiet before that can happen.
7:20. I like the guitar feedback more than I like the actual crash here, it's like the downfall of a roller coaster before you catch yourself again.
7:53. Absolutely love the notes of the guitars fighting each other here. The last minute of the song is perfect for this, and there's another ultimate resolve at 8:29.
Your Hand In Mine
0:00. This is the only song on the album that doesn't have a transition at either end of it, which makes it seem kinda separate from the others on the album. I dunno...I go back and forth many times about what my favorite song on this album is, and it depends on what I'm looking for. I feel the most love towards "Your Hand In Mine," but I could see myself having a good explanation for either of the first two songs on the album.
1:54. I actually tried to learn this song on piano last spring, but never really got past the first few minutes. Maybe, by leaving one aspect of this album disconnected (that is, I can't play it on piano perfectly without listening to the album), I can still regard it as this thing which remains a strong part of me. Something equivalent to us not desiring something once we have it.
4:01. Great buildup to one of the climaxes of this song.
4:15. You would think that this is the climax, but it's just another buildup.
4:39. This is the climax, the other guitar coming in for the melody. The drums are particularly nice here, and I just noticed another heartbeat pattern. I'm going to end up associating this album with heartbeats forever, probably.
5:27. Again, the reverb and the heartbeat...absolutely my most-loved part of this entire album.
6:00. The first time through, I picked up the final note in the background at 6:46, but it's around as early as here. It goes away during what one could call the chorus, but I think that introducing it with so much of the album left is perfect. It just feels like a constant.
And there it is, again. The final note at 7:42 comes and goes, 35 seconds of ringing pass by, and everything ends. I started out with this post because I wanted to experience this album in a different way, and I did, and you probably will too if you keep listening to it. Or to your favorite album. Please, please, please give this a shot with an album that means a great deal to you. Even if nothing spectacular comes out of it, you'll hear things that you never noticed. I've listened to this album close to 200 times in 20 months, and I'm still hearing new things every now and then. Worst case scenario, you get to listen to your favorite album. This is one that obviously means the world to me, and I thank you for reading and for hopefully listening along.
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