Lyrics: I let the dog out from the window And I saw it hit the ground There was no body to take care of There's nothing to see here, I told the crowd
I caught a rumour the other day It slipped through my fingers, then got away It contained no glory and no fairy tales But it eased my conscience, at least you are safe
Background: This is the final song. At this point I've gone through a metamorphosis. No more silly girl with thousands of instruments. Just a blond fairy and her piano. No, just kidding. Still dark. Still new instruments to explore, but this time, I suspect it will be a slightly more electronic experiment. Don't know yet.
This song is the end of the first box session. It is a blanket made of piano wires. The wire melodies walk towards a hill. Beyond that hill, there is another hill to climb. And beyond that, yet another one.
Lyrics: Alleviation, there is no morning meeting Since the boss got stuck behind his belly Then the printer blew
Determination, there is only one way out We have to leave the office Crawling underneath the paper view
You We'll meet again (I never thought we'd meet again)
You You know the story has to have an end
Background: This is a giggle song. A perfect nonsense, someone said. And I agree. You know, you go to work, or school or whatever you do during day time. You sit through endless meetings, discussions, coffee breaks while your mind wanders out of the building. It stops at the shore, at the giant field where the dogs play. One big brown dog is being followed by a very small white one, chased by an even smaller dog and so on. An endless chain of chasing dogs. Nothing is as happy as a happy dog.
Your mind carries on to the sand and the water and its pockets bulge with sea shells and funny shaped pieces of stones. Some stones are shaped by the sea to fit in your hand. You've got lots of them at home. Your mind puts them back into the sea. The stones are as happy as the dogs. The dogs are as happy as your mind. Your mind is as happy as the trumpet in the middle of the song, which leaps out of the office and never returns.
Lyrics: When I'm said I think of it as music A song that has an end A spoon that you can bend
When I'm sad I think of it as music A song that has an end A bike that you can mend
Don't worry love You will get by
Don't worry love You will get by
Background: Do you remember Uri Geller, the spoon bender from the eighties? I tried to bend so many spoons when I was a kid. No luck, there, unfortunately. No fortune there, unluckily.
Sometimes I think about changing the band name into The Uri Geller After Experience. The after experience is something that happens after (duh) you've met Mr Geller. According to himself, his bending powers are so strong, they tend to affect you hours after your rendez vous. I want to cause after effects too. It doesn't necessarily have to be huge, just a little tickling in your left foot, or a funny hairstyle.
I think the song came out as a mix between these thoughts and the fact the everyone in my surrounding were so sad that I ran out of comforting words. Thus, I wrote a song that goes on forever, forever and forever, that rocks the cradle into oblivion.
Lyrics: Translucent sun Our drilling long stares We slowly evolve what we would name flares
Her hips, her bones The noise keeps her sane Obliterates 'til nothing remains
I told you so a year ago
Prismatic lense it sprinkles you in tens We share a year Then nothing makes sense
I told you so a year ago
Background: This song was recorded the day before a huge exam, explaining the slightly desperate voice in it. The lyrics, however, consist of a mish-mash of thoughts, pieces of African poems and dictionary knowledge.
On stage The Vault becomes a fast running horse, a hungry eagle and a waterfall spreading in every room and corners. Then as a sudden change of weather, it disappears, leaving nothing behind but a question mark.
Lyrics: I was waiting for the bus when suddenly surrounded by a bubble I saw lobsters crawling by, a coral forest and brittle stars above all
I asked a lady at my side how she could manage staying under water all her life But she just smiled and shook her head and then she said
If we bide our time we will find the shore All you do is float all you do, is float
(I was just waiting for the bus)
Background: One day, I came across the story about a bubble boy. He was born with a rare disorder called SCID, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. To avoid life-threatening infections, he was placed in a germ-free plastic bubble, where he remained until he died, only twelve years old.
If I was a bubble boy, my bubble would be surrounded by water, covered in sea shells, illuminated by bioluminescent dinoflagellates. I would take long walks on the ocean floor and hang upside down in the coral trees, watching the manta rays hover towards the surface. Then fall into a weightless sleep, dreaming of dry sand between my toes and wind in my ears. And maybe a hug.
Lyrics: There comes a time when you've been capable and competent for it to last at least a hundred thousand years
You still pretend that this how you like it - you ain't got no time for longing, cheesy feelings, hopes and fears
It happens that you wake up as a beetle stuck upon a pin with listlessness all over, leaving smears
Is it all that matters?
Together though thick and thin the trees screen the garden for the wind And I don't remember the smell of yours or anybody else's skin
This heart is a precious souvenir and I'll be leaving it here And then I'll wait, and then I'll wait I'm in my prime, don't you see?
But is it all that matters?
Background: This song just turns in to a slobby mess if I try to explain its meaning. I hope the lyric says it all. The middle part is my favourite, being itchy and slightly dissonant. It took hours to learn how to play those few tunes on the violin. And this is what came out, haha.
Lyrics: Where we'll go There won't be nothing but snow (not correct English, I know, but you know, l'art pour l'art)
If you could build the igloo Maybe I could climb the icebergs And then bring our walrus neighbours Back for tea
We won't stay here forever But as long as we're together And the snow and ice is all that we could see
Where we'll go There won't be nothing but snow
Background: This is the first song I made for the album. It's somehow stained by the music I used to do in band in box version 1.0 (together with Elin); innocent lyrics and tender melodies. I had just bought the (probably stolen) clarinet (the first of my monthly instruments) and these were the first tunes I could record without the neighbours screaming and the houseplants melting down in agony. I hadn't yet begun working with the vocals the way I did with the rest of the album tracks, I kept it plain. Although this is the song that initially attracted attention to the new band in box (version 2.0), it's not my favourite tune. On the other hand, it belongs in the collection, acting as an interlude or a short Antarctic break.
