Frustration, Despair, and Love

Breezeblocks by alt-J (∆)

She may contain the urge to run away
But hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks
Cetirizine your fever’s gripped me again
Never kisses—all you ever send are full stops, la, la, laDo you know where the wild things go?
They go along to take your honey, la, la, la
Break down, now weep,
Build up breakfast, now let’s eat
My love, my love, love, love, la, la, laMuscle to muscle and toe to toe
The fear has gripped me but here I go
My heart sinks as I jump up
Your hand grips hand as my eyes shut

Do you know where the wild things go?
They go along to take your honey, la, la, la
Break down, now sleep
Build up breakfast, now let’s eat
My love my love, love, love

She bruises, coughs, she splutters pistol shots
Hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks
She’s morphine, queen of my vaccine
My love, my love, love, love, la, la, la

Muscle to muscle and toe to toe
The fear has gripped me but here I go
My heart sinks as I jump up
Your hand grips hand as my eyes shut

She may contain the urge to run away
But hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks
Germolene, disinfect the scene
My love, my love, love, love
But please don’t go, I love you so, my lovely

Please don’t go, please don’t go
I love you so, I love you so
Please don’t go, please don’t go
I love you so, I love you so
Please break my heart, hey

Please don’t go, please don’t go
I love you so, I love you so
Please don’t go, please don’t go
I love you so, I love you so
Please break my heart

Please don’t go, I’ll eat you whole
I love you so, I love you so, I love you so
Please don’t go I’ll eat you whole
I love you so, I love you so, I love you so, I love you so

I’ll eat you whole
I love you so, I love you so
I’ll eat you whole
I love you so, I love you so

I’ll eat you whole
I love you so, I love you so
Please don’t go, I’ll eat you whole
I love you so, I love you so, I love you so
Please don’t go, I’ll eat you whole
I love you so, I love you so, I love you so

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVeMiVU77wo

So, what’s with this song?

I love it. It really really depresses me, but the words are so fitting and the lyrics are so beautifully placed throughout the song.heart mask sad

As for what’s going on in the actual music video…. No comment, I could accidentally start a big debate/argument that I don’t really want to get into right now. (there were a
surprisingly large number of insults and furious debates in the comments on Youtube).

The basic gist of it is there are two women, one of whom is married/engaged. The married/engaged man (who may or may not be the protagonist) finds one of the women tied up in a closet and gets attacked by the second woman who is holding a knife. They fight for a while and she picks up a breeze block, which he tries to take from her, and in the end, she falls into the tub filled with water, and he puts the breeze block on top of her, resulting in her drowning. I’ll let you guys decide for yourselves who was in the wrong.

So, the music. There is a beautiful melody that I’m in love with and a steady beat that fades in and out of the background, adding depth. It’s not like some songs I’ve heard where the background noise overwhelms the singer’s voice, but the singer’s words also weave in and out of the other sounds to create a wave-like effect.
blue smokeThe gradual addition of new layers reflects the complexity of the song’s message as well as the feelings being passed on.

With each additional layer, the music video provides a visual that illustrates this complexity and you are given more information with each.

As true with most songs, the emotional climax of the song corresponds with the climax of the melody. However, for me the climb is much larger than it is for other songs. It’s impact on me is such that I rarely listen to this song before others for fear of how my expression may change.  hoodie

It has such a great impact on me, because I feel it reflects my internal turmoil quite well during the hardest time of my life. Even today, I still have difficulty talking or even describing it and the explanation tends to turn into some fantastical symbolism before it even reaches the ears of others, so very few are able to understand the true extent of my reaction.

I once wrote it down on paper, but it confused those who read it to the extent that they were unable to comprehend that I was describing the discovery of a death. I was able to convey my feelings quite well, but others were too focused on what actually happened and who “He” was (God? no. Then why’s it capitalized? emphasis.) to actually get that my point in the whole thing was for them to experience the conflicting emotions within me at the time (both great despair and a kind of relief).guilty crown ouma shu blac (pandora hearts?I tried to channel my frustration and the great stress and depression I had been experiencing at the same time, but it seems my work was too complex and vague for outsiders, who were not privy to the same experience and knowledge that I was, to understand anything besides the fact that something horrible to the narrator had happened, but they did not know what.

This song in particular, I feel has a stronger impact on people who have experienced great hardship or have a close relationship to death, especially if they or someone close to them almost or did die.

That’s all for now, I’m starting to feel depressed.mermai

3 thoughts on “Frustration, Despair, and Love

  1. I literally scrolled through every single post you’ve ever posted and still can’t figure out who you are. My best guess, based off of your blog post about your ancestry, is that this is Stephanie Palazzolo. I really can’t tell for sure, and I’m sorry if I’m wrong. Anyways, Breezeblocks is one of my favorite songs ever. My friend, Kelly Karstadt, introduced it to me last year and it almost became an addiction. If you went to Consolapalooza you probably saw us perform it together. At the time, most people had never heard of it but I can tell that Alt-J is becoming more and more popular.
    This song is quite different from most songs nowadays. One word that I would use to describe it is “robust”. The melodies aren’t clear, articulation is slurred together, and none of the lyrics reaaallly make sense. It’s a bit confusing the first few listens, but the confusion starts to make sense the more you listen to it. I’m glad someone else has found joy in one of my favorite songs!

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    • lol. XD

      No, sorry not Stephanie. She has a weebly. 🙂
      I didn’t actually go to Consolapalooza, but I wanted too. Too bad, looks like I missed something good~ QQ

      I haven’t heard many songs by alt-j, but what I have heard by them definitely fits your description. To be honest, many of the lyrics I can’t make heads or tails of until I actually look them up, but even then they leave a lot up to the listener to infer.

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