Basketball Shoes was written long before the album, and Ants was basically built around it. That's why it sounds like the other tracks. But thematically and lyrically, it was adjusted to fit in better as a closer. Everything prior to the final part of the song is supposed to represent Isaac being stuck in his cycle of anxiety and depression because of his poor relationship that he doesn't want to leave. It retreats similar sounds and themes and has long instrumental interludes to represent the passage of time as well as the rapidly shifting moods that Isaac experienced during this time. The end of the song is him finally experiencing something (A wet dream of another person) that gives him some sort of leverage to finally leave the relationship. It's the first real sign to him that he needs to move on, and it's both horrifying and exhilarating to him and that's why it's so dramatic.
I mean I think he was self concious in other tracks too like "darling i see you're not really sleeping" or the dark humor in Bread Song or Good Will Hunting. But although he's aware of the situation, "everytime he tries to make toast for anyone else he ends up dreaming of her". And at the point of basketball shoes, its so painfully apparent he's in this parasocial relationship, especially with those last lyrics being screamed and repeated that its more like a desparate manic laugh moment. In that sense its horrifying. But I don't think it adds progress into the narrators character and rather showcases the passing of time and that he's now living with this loneliness. Could be expressed best with "if you see me looking strange with a fresh style im still not feeling that great".
I'm passionate about Wagner, Beethoven, Schubert and Verdi... and I'm in my 60's... and I love this album. It's a work of art. It won't change the world but I believe generations of music fans will continue to enjoy it.
Mark was Lewis’ (the sax players) uncle who died of covid in 2020. The voice at the end of the track was a voice recording of him that he had sent to Lewis I think
loved your analysis, especially of the technical music aspect of the album!! here’s some background that i think adds a lot more weight and makes this album so meaningful. the lead singer on this album is isaac wood who announced a few days before the album released that he was leaving the band because he was suffering from mental health issues. so, this is the last release from black country new road with this vocal style which makes it meaningful, but also the sections where isaac is really straining his voice like in basketball shoes and the lines like “and then isaac will suffer” in concorde become a lot more powerful in the context of knowing what he was going through when writing and recording this music. one other note- mark’s theme is named after one of the band member’s uncle named mark who passed away as the band was recording for the album. he was a big supporter of the band so they decided to honor him with a song on the album. those last funny little singing lines on the song are actually mark’s vocals.
I’m not sure if this helps your opinion on Basketball Shoes, but they have said before that it was the first song written for the album, and that the rest of the album was written around that track being the big climactic finish. To me, I didn’t see it as them retreading the same ground as much as I saw it as them bringing all of the themes and sounds from all over the album and wrapping up each one of them with this one song
I think the explanation that has made the most sense to me is that Concorde is a metaphor for this failed long distance relationship between England and New York, which explains lines like "I tried my best to hold you through the headset that you wear", "thousand mile long tube" (the fiber optic cables that make up the internet between continents) "there was no wifi in your apartment so we knelt at your altar" = when she had no internet they had no idea what was going on in her life or if she was ok. The Concorde was this project that they poured lots and lots of resources into and ended up crashing between England and New York.
As a classical musician I'm a bit biased here, but the reason for me this album is so refreshing and so enjoyable is because of dynamics! So often now music is constantly loud (or soft) never really leaving room for those dynamic swells you mentioned in Bread Song. This is by far my AOTY and one of my favorites of all time. I highly recommend Mount Eerie or The Glow Pt II from The Microphones. It's not the same kind of music but I think you'd enjoy it. Also the ending to Basketball Shoes is incredibly cathartic in my opinion. Isaac Wood's vocals there are killer.
I agree god damn it. out of all the reviews I've read/seen nobody mentioned how well the album makes great use of volume, both in terms of audio and in terms of space, god do I love how much it just completely fills up your ears at times
I think I have listened to this album more than any in years. I know it very well. I’ve listened to a number of reactions and read a jumble of reviews. But you bring something new to me on every track, and it feels like I’m in the room listening with you for the first time. Well done, sir.
You are probably the least lazy "reaction" video creator I've seen. There are only a few people on RUclips that do reaction content like you do and it's great to hear what you actually think while listening and going in-depth instead of just giving any old band praise to make people happy.
I enjoyed your reactions and analysis of 'Ants From Up There' very much. It's been about a year since I last watched one of these types of videos, having settled comfortably into my interpretation of the album and my take on the lore surrounding Issac Wood, his failed long distance relationship and his anxiety. Watching you, for lack of a better term, "solving the mysteries" as you listen was a great reminder of why I enjoyed these kinds of videos so much. This album is a whole lot of fun to marinade in and unpack. One thing I don't really hear a lot of is how Issac the only one on this album who seems tortured, the rest of the band sound like they're having a grand time playing the songs they've spent years honing and developing. It's an easily overlooked detail that made me take a step back and not focus so much on the interconnected nature of the songs, on the exact meaning of "the clamp" and the much repeated motif of "Concord." Putting a little distance between myself and the lore helped me enjoy this one remarkable little nugget - at one point a photo was taken of drummer Charlie Wayne's feet while he was sitting at his kit. He was wearing a pair of sneakers, or basketball shoes. The particular make of those shoes will make your hair stand on end. They were Air Jordan 11 Concords.
For your question on who is who, Mark is in reference to the wind player’s uncle who passed away to covid. Isaac is the main vocal of the band who left a few days before the release of the record. Charli in Basketball Shoes is in reference to Charli XCX and how the isaac used to have wet dreams about her but the lyric in the context of the song and album has changed beyond the initial idea
isaac never had wet dreams about charli xcx, he was making a commentary on mega fans of artists who go to creepy lengths to obsess over them. he changed the lyrics as it wasnt obvious to most people that it wasnt autobiographical and that he was playing a character
I have only snipped a few bits of the reaction/review so far, but I will say this album makes a lot more sense if you interpret the relationship at its core as the relationship between an artist and their art. The vocalist/songwriter left the band shortly after the release of this album due to mental health issues. There's a little bit of this on Opus, from their debut record, a track you also checked out. Although you could take it literally as a toxic relationship, it's way more powerful if you have the context of what was going on behind the scenes, and things start to fit a lot better. This is an album I checked out thanks to the amazing communtiy we have and I get why it's been so critically acclaimed. Really beautiful, filled with amazing musicianship and an overwhelming concept (in a good way!). Definitely making my albums of the year list. I'm looking forward to checking the whole reaction/review later.
Taking my impression of the album and flipping it to be about his relationship to the music, to the band, that certainly increases the impact of some of these tracks. I might have to give it another spin on my own with that concept in mind.
Thank you for this analiysis! After the initial reaction, have you revisited this album? I feel like Basketball shoes might grow on you with time, though for me it was an instant hit. I think the closer here is supposed to recap in the same way people recap their failed relationships after a breakup. This is a musical metaphor of post-breakup grief that comes in stages, sometimes you are optimistic about bettering yourself and finding another partner, sometimes you are devastated by the loss of connection to the closest person you had in your life, and the song sounds this way. I really feel this "I'm on my own now, for better or worse" when I listen to it. And the ending part feels like ascension above all of what happened in this relationship and looking at it "from up there", seeing that the care and attention of other person was not a gift but in fact a loan, and the interest (maybe toxicity or abuse, maybe just misunderstanding) turned out to be unbearable. For me this track is the essence of the album, you have 50 minutes of loading this musical gun and one huge shot
I've listened to this album at least 50 times since it came out, and it quickly became one of my all-time favorites. My favorite track since the first time I heard it was basketball shoes, I've never considered that it doesn't fit in the album since I love it so much, but you are totally right. It does feel like it undermines other tracks and disrupts the perfectly crafted order of the rest of the album. This was a great reaction. Thanks for putting in a crazy amount of time and effort!
God this album has quickly become one of my favorites. Personally, I consider this album a modern masterpiece and im excited to hear your thoughts, as you always have something additive to say! (loved your will wood and Tom waits breakdowns!)
So for me The Concorde is a metaphor for his relationships. Concorde jet was a British build jet and was marred by many issues and negative attention …it required way more money than initially thought and was delayed over and over and obsessed on by those building it almost to an unhealthy degree. Using it as a metaphor for a failing relationship with his band and personal life as a repeated thing in his final album with them before leaving definitely felt intentional to me. It’s so funny how in the song you mentioned the instruments are almost acting as support and humans being there for him through his declining mental state. Great album. Isaac will be missed but I’m grateful for what he and his band mates have given us.
Concorde is defunct. It actually only ever flew a handful of flights. So all that design and years spent for a massive crash to essentially kill it and all potential. Kinda must be what the songwriter/Singer felt when he knew for his own mental health he had to step away.
As an amateur producer and someone who loves to dissect music. Your ability to easily detect certain things in a track is impressive. I want to be as musically literate as you one day.
Snow Globes is my favorite piece in the entire score thanks to the drums section. i actually really like that the drums are a turn off for a lot of other people. i always get teary eyes whenever that part starts.
Great reaction man. It is (particularly in narrative aspects) a challenging record. I loved the way you tried to go over it and the musical takes. Usually I don’t like these “reactions” videos but this one is beyond most of them. Cheers!
I've always had the exact same feeling about Basketball Shoes as you've described here. I know so many people hold it in high regard, but something about it just didn't tie the album together in quite the way I wanted it to. There's an unmistakeable flow to the rest of the record which seems to disappear for the final 12 minutes. It's not a bad track by any means, but nice to know I'm not on my own on this one.
I have to agree - I particularly think the last segment ("In my bedsheets now wet") is underwhelming. It lacks any of the intricacy that the rest of the album has. It's like it's trying to be a big crescendo , but forgets to do anything other than be loud. That last segment of the last song is the only part of the album I don't like.
I think the same about Basketball Shoes. but it works for that same reason for me. Snow Globes is the only true true climax on the entire record, it's the only moment of true release, the only thrilling part. that to me is kind of where the album ends; Basketball Shoes, on the other hand, feels like it's the song playing while the credits roll. it's not a reprise really, but it grabs from all the parts of the album and revisits all the moods, not repeating them. it's like it's own little journey, separate from the rest but still fitting due to how it incorporates all the sounds. for that reason I think this song works solely at the end of the album, it's easily the one I revisit the least mainly because by itself it'd be super dry and kind of pointless. it has gente moments, dynamics, sad moments and finishes off with a hell of a finale. I love it in the context of the album
basketball shoes was originally about a wet dream the singer had about charli xcx. the whole wet dream thing also served as a metaphor about creative fulfillment and how rewarding it is to feel recognised by someone you admire in their own field (as the song originally sung about how charli is a fan of isaac and has read all his prose). the final part of the song (except the all i've been forms the drone, which is most likely just a replacement verse that speaks sentimentally about the music itself and maybe relates it to sex in a way) is about how isaac has been unable to perform (sexually) in the past due to him having to take sertraline to deal with depression. he prays to forget about charli (maybe because it's embarassing, maybe because the dream feeds on the fantasy of a creative fulfillment that he cannot achieve outside of his dreams) while being in his wet bedsheets (he has finally been able to be sexually satisfied and has ejaculated). the loan she gave him was generous (he has not only been praised by her in dreams, the dream itself has granted him the ability to be sexually gratified once more), but the interest makes the loan not worth it (it's all still a fantasy and the mere remembrance of it reminds him that, when it comes to real life, he still underperforms and he still has all his impostor syndrome)
A gentle hill racer is a reference to the album cover of their first album when being in a bad was new and "gentle" Isaac is the singer who is flying like concorde, billie eilish style.
Greetings from six months in the future 😅 I just wanted to say a little piece of my interpretation of basketball shoes. The first line references Concorde (freakin AAAAgain), but then he says it tears his house to shreds. I don’t know if the way I hear this is true to authorial intent, but I hear him being literal about Concorde. Like, “yeah, I’ve played out this metaphor teehee”. So with that as the first line, I treat the final song as mostly for fun. I think we hear how fun this album is throughout, but maybe I’m biased through interviews and seeing them live. But it’s like you’re emo band kid thing. And I think it makes the concept of the album messier. BUT THEN MY GIGA BRAIN tells me that it’s supposed to be messy, both because of how self aware they are and how young and ambitious and untethered they are. In this way the whole album is earnestly cringy. And basketball shoes is the perfect ending. When I add on the extra layer of Isaac leaving the band I think the vibe is even more solidified. It’s a celebration. It’s mourning. It’s triumphant. It’s desperate. It’s confused. It’s talented. It’s earnest. It’s zoomers trying to live up to some expectation of greatness (they’ve said before they want to be the next Arcade Fire, an emo band in their own right who unfortunately continues to be cringy as forty-somethings). I can’t really imagine this vibe being improved upon. When it’s refined, it’s erased. This is not to say we can’t be frustrated with musical or lyrical decisions. Only that we can be frustrated and endeared if we surrender to it.
Love your analysis, although I would disagree with the assessment that Basketball Shoes is a retreading of previous ideas done worse or a poorly constructed song.The first half of the track is very midwest emo-ey which is a sound that wasn't really covered elsewhere on the album. I also think the sudden stops and false starts fit within the context of the song because they always lead into the same six-note motif that's repeated throughout it's duration. It allows for the stunning dynamic shifts that wouldn't be possible without the silence. To me, it's a lot more structurally compelling than Snow Globes, which doesn't change the underlying melody for it's whole duration. The drum solo idea also could have been executed a lot better imo. (The mixing is a little too wonky for my tastes, and the vocals should have been louder.) Personally, I'd rather remove that track and then have The Place go straight into Basketball Shoes.
I think you've been vindicated in counting "Intro" in 4/4 ! There's a long interview with the band, which includes snippets of demos and outtakes from the album. At 1 hour 21 min mark, you can hear one of the members counting "One Two One Two" m.ruclips.net/video/d7Dz0PkscdY/видео.htmlh21m
Yooooooo what?!? I had accepted that I was just counting a polyrhythm to their intended meter but this is neat. edit: OK, on a second listen the person counting in has a longer break between 2 and 1. This isn't uncommon when counting in fast time signatures like this. The first group of 2 eighth notes is counted as 1 while the second group of 3 eighth notes is counted as 2. This is a lot more manageable than trying to count to 5 quickly. So it probably is in 5/8 and I'm feeling a polyrhythmic 4/4. Still, thanks for bringing this to my attention. It certainly clarifies exactly what their intention is even if it goes against what I'm feeling it as.
@@CriticalReactions No prob! Thanks for the explaination, that makes a lot of sense. One day I'll be able to wrap my brain around time signatures and rhythms lol
There are minimalist influences here. That’s maybe a better musical lense through which to view the first two tracks and Haldern. Listen to Floe off of Glassworks (by Philip Glass) and come back to it. On your own time of course. Edit: Yeah, it’s definitely very emo. Edit2: You were confused about the upbeat tone of The Place Where He Inserted The Blade. Basing this off of your interpretation of the album, maybe TPWHITB is musically referencing how he felt when he was in the relationship. He couldn’t see the red flags (lyrics) past the roses (music). Edit3: This might be stating the obvious, but I like to think about Snow Globes musically in terms of an actual snow globe. It starts out with nothing happening (the silence and then single line), then it gets picked up and jostled (slight additional elements), then it gets shaken up violently (the DRUMS), then the snow is falling (the more energetic follow up to the peak), and then it finally goes back to nothing happening (the reiteration of the beginning). Edit4: For Basketball Shoes (based off your interpretation), maybe this works for the lyrics: Verse 1 = A fresh start with haunting tinges of the past Verse 2 = A new relationship that strongly reminds of the past one, which is torturing Outro = mental anguish because they can’t forget the past relationship and just move on And then musically: A chaotic blur of the past and present melding together as the memories come flooding back due to the new “normal”
I haven't listened to very much minimalist music, but listening to the second half of this album i'm always reminded of Philip Glass. I presumed i was making a connection where there was none, so i'm glad someone else hears it.
Holy Cow! Thanks for all this. Between this and other in depth comments I'm beginning to get a much clearer picture of the intentions with this album. It's fascinating just how deep it all is.
Basketball shoes has this feeling of a climax, ending on a high. I think the chaotic disjointed nature really doesn't bother me at all in fact it improves it due to the song never getting stale or dwelling too long on one idea
I believe I have a solid take on Snow Globes lyrically. It's not the same relationship as the previous songs, in fact it's not even about the vocalist anymore, but some friend Harry. It's definitely a gay song: Harry is probably gay but struggling with his feelings and religion. See the shrine, and the fact it doesn't look like Jesus (religious dogma vs what jesus should represent). Harry was in love with a friend, who told him about exploring their bodies (at this part the drums shake like bones), but Harry didn't go on. Religion promised to make him whole but he's empty. And then the emotional storm that comes with the drums is just the snow globe shaking. Again this song has nothing to do with the rest of the album
Obviously we’ll never know what ‘Concorde’ exactly means to Isaac but I think it’s a mix of a few things. Namely, I think it’s the bands success and the band getting recognition but it would deteriorate Isaac’s mental state the more it’s pushed (touring, performing, fame). Isaac will suffer and Concorde will fly?
Concorde is a british/french supersonic plane that is no longer allowed to fly. Billie eillish style is about her fast rise to musical fame (not her dress sense)
billie eilish style going to berlin for a little while is about how billie had suicidal thoughts on a berlin hotel, also probably issac is talking about apperance or personality of the girl
Great instrumental analysis but it feels like the kind of lyrics you enjoy need to be very overt. I personally enjoy the mystery of Isaac's anecdotal, strange lyricism and always came away with my own interpretation that is probably very different to everyone else's
When you wonder if you have the stamina to listen to a whole new album, and then hear the first 10 seconds and are like "Yeah man, lets go!" - Also, the album art put me off, but I do like the drunk octopus holding the bag, air sickness bag? 2:20 - Excited tingles occur... 2 seconds later and David Bowie occurs :) Damn, not sold? This is so inventive, critical analysis to the max? For me this is beautiful so far. Tracks 1 & 2 seemingly. The a-symmetric riff reminds me of an excellent song by Azure - Ameotoko Pt1. The Curse (please check this out, its my No1 album of 2021). You say 'Abrasive', I say 'inspiring'. 17:20 - yes, on point, defo. Concorde - I'm hearing similar vocals now to ... I can't remember... Thinking Noah and the Whale, but that's not quite right... or is it? Bread Song - Shivers immediately, ?Haldern? ok, well I can at least look forward to that. Actual Bread song, I feel Nick Drake perhaps. Wasn't really feeling the vibe initially, but the song really grew on me and made me thing of the essence of music. Right I'll revisit this soon. Sleep calls
And, days later I finally get through it... Well I'll need to hear this album properly now to understand how I feel about it. I only struggled with Snow Globes.
For "intro" you are saying it is a group of 2 and a group of 4, making a wonky 4/4, but I believe you are hearing a beat that is not there. It is a group of 2 plus a group of 3, making a 5/8 feel
Yup, I'm 100% hearing a polyrhythm against the 5/8. Even now that I know it's in 5/8 (I even heard them count it off in a behind the scenes clip) I still feel it in a 2:5 polyrhythm -- the 4 pulse just makes so much more sense to my mind for some reason. I conducted the 4 pulse that I feel in the reaction if you're curious what the looks/sounds/feels like.
From where I see you conducting it looks like you’re conducting a quick 5/8 pattern splitting it into a group of 2 and 3 (which is what’s happening). Your hand bounces on the down beat of the bar and then the third best of the bar, and then the down beat of the next bar, splitting 2-3-2-3 etc. The way you explain it at 11:35 as a block of 2 and a block of 4 is just wrong. You seem to be adding a beat in your head that isn’t there. It’s a block of 2 then a block of 3. The first block is sol re and the second block is mi do ti. Those then continue to loop. The second block only consists of those 3 beats, not the 4th that you seem to be hearing
This keeps coming up so I'm thinking I might need to make a quick video about it. I conducted the 4 that I felt in the reaction. I felt it in 2:5 where every 5 beats of 5/4 was 2 beats of 4/4, giving me 1 bar of my 4/4 for every 2 bars of the 5/4. It's basically a half-time polymeter and I have no idea why that still feels more normal to me than the intended 5.
Listening specifically for the 5/8 I can hear it but I gotta force that angle. The 4/4 polyrhythm feels so much more natural to me. I even conducted the 4/4 at the start to show it how I was feeling it. I'm feeling it in a 5:2 ratio where the 5 beats make up half of a 4/4 bar.
Yup. What's weird is I still don't feel it in 5. I can now force myself into the 5 knowing that's how it's written but that is not how I feel that section at all. I even conducted the meter I felt during that part of the reaction. For whatever reason, I feel that section in a polyrhythm of their intended feel.
Bread i think is a metaphor for the band (how he makes his money/bread) and he's obsessed with the band/bread, and the girl is tired of it, and this pushes her away, and he only notices when it's too late what the band is doing.
I Don't think bread is used here as slang for money, I think the bread crumbs represent the little private things about him, maybe faults, that are forbidden by the girl in a moment of rejection- she is not willing to be intimate with him
The last verse of basketball shoes is about the singer continuing to obsess and be emotionally effected by his heartbreak. “Charlie” is term used in Vietnam as a name for enemy soldiers. He is relating his trauma to the ptsd that they experienced after coming back from the war. The generous loan, the crippling interest, it’s a metaphor for his trauma. Also as far as the song not fitting, I’m pretty sure it was written before any of the other songs on the album. There are videos of them playing it during their first album cycle.
Basketball Shoes was written long before the album, and Ants was basically built around it. That's why it sounds like the other tracks. But thematically and lyrically, it was adjusted to fit in better as a closer.
Everything prior to the final part of the song is supposed to represent Isaac being stuck in his cycle of anxiety and depression because of his poor relationship that he doesn't want to leave. It retreats similar sounds and themes and has long instrumental interludes to represent the passage of time as well as the rapidly shifting moods that Isaac experienced during this time. The end of the song is him finally experiencing something (A wet dream of another person) that gives him some sort of leverage to finally leave the relationship. It's the first real sign to him that he needs to move on, and it's both horrifying and exhilarating to him and that's why it's so dramatic.
I mean I think he was self concious in other tracks too like "darling i see you're not really sleeping" or the dark humor in Bread Song or Good Will Hunting. But although he's aware of the situation, "everytime he tries to make toast for anyone else he ends up dreaming of her". And at the point of basketball shoes, its so painfully apparent he's in this parasocial relationship, especially with those last lyrics being screamed and repeated that its more like a desparate manic laugh moment. In that sense its horrifying. But I don't think it adds progress into the narrators character and rather showcases the passing of time and that he's now living with this loneliness. Could be expressed best with "if you see me looking strange with a fresh style im still not feeling that great".
I'm passionate about Wagner, Beethoven, Schubert and Verdi... and I'm in my 60's... and I love this album. It's a work of art. It won't change the world but I believe generations of music fans will continue to enjoy it.
Mark was Lewis’ (the sax players) uncle who died of covid in 2020. The voice at the end of the track was a voice recording of him that he had sent to Lewis I think
loved your analysis, especially of the technical music aspect of the album!! here’s some background that i think adds a lot more weight and makes this album so meaningful. the lead singer on this album is isaac wood who announced a few days before the album released that he was leaving the band because he was suffering from mental health issues. so, this is the last release from black country new road with this vocal style which makes it meaningful, but also the sections where isaac is really straining his voice like in basketball shoes and the lines like “and then isaac will suffer” in concorde become a lot more powerful in the context of knowing what he was going through when writing and recording this music. one other note- mark’s theme is named after one of the band member’s uncle named mark who passed away as the band was recording for the album. he was a big supporter of the band so they decided to honor him with a song on the album. those last funny little singing lines on the song are actually mark’s vocals.
I’m not sure if this helps your opinion on Basketball Shoes, but they have said before that it was the first song written for the album, and that the rest of the album was written around that track being the big climactic finish. To me, I didn’t see it as them retreading the same ground as much as I saw it as them bringing all of the themes and sounds from all over the album and wrapping up each one of them with this one song
I think the explanation that has made the most sense to me is that Concorde is a metaphor for this failed long distance relationship between England and New York, which explains lines like "I tried my best to hold you through the headset that you wear", "thousand mile long tube" (the fiber optic cables that make up the internet between continents) "there was no wifi in your apartment so we knelt at your altar" = when she had no internet they had no idea what was going on in her life or if she was ok. The Concorde was this project that they poured lots and lots of resources into and ended up crashing between England and New York.
This comment has actually blown my mind.
As a classical musician I'm a bit biased here, but the reason for me this album is so refreshing and so enjoyable is because of dynamics! So often now music is constantly loud (or soft) never really leaving room for those dynamic swells you mentioned in Bread Song. This is by far my AOTY and one of my favorites of all time. I highly recommend Mount Eerie or The Glow Pt II from The Microphones. It's not the same kind of music but I think you'd enjoy it.
Also the ending to Basketball Shoes is incredibly cathartic in my opinion. Isaac Wood's vocals there are killer.
he done 2 songs from the glow part 2 in the last year. I think it was 2 songs in one video
I would love to hear him listen to The Glow Pt. 2 in full
Couldn't agree more. It's great to hear a band understand that volume is a handled by severity and not through texture.
I agree god damn it. out of all the reviews I've read/seen nobody mentioned how well the album makes great use of volume, both in terms of audio and in terms of space, god do I love how much it just completely fills up your ears at times
"It's prog rock but it's also not rock"
Post-rock in a nutshell
You did a really nice job on the analysis part. You're probably the only content creator to analyse music this indepth. Thanks for the video!
I think I have listened to this album more than any in years. I know it very well. I’ve listened to a number of reactions and read a jumble of reviews. But you bring something new to me on every track, and it feels like I’m in the room listening with you for the first time. Well done, sir.
You are probably the least lazy "reaction" video creator I've seen. There are only a few people on RUclips that do reaction content like you do and it's great to hear what you actually think while listening and going in-depth instead of just giving any old band praise to make people happy.
Thanks a ton!
I enjoyed your reactions and analysis of 'Ants From Up There' very much.
It's been about a year since I last watched one of these types of videos, having settled comfortably into my interpretation of the album and my take on the lore surrounding Issac Wood, his failed long distance relationship and his anxiety.
Watching you, for lack of a better term, "solving the mysteries" as you listen was a great reminder of why I enjoyed these kinds of videos so much. This album is a whole lot of fun to marinade in and unpack.
One thing I don't really hear a lot of is how Issac the only one on this album who seems tortured, the rest of the band sound like they're having a grand time playing the songs they've spent years honing and developing.
It's an easily overlooked detail that made me take a step back and not focus so much on the interconnected nature of the songs, on the exact meaning of "the clamp" and the much repeated motif of "Concord."
Putting a little distance between myself and the lore helped me enjoy this one remarkable little nugget - at one point a photo was taken of drummer Charlie Wayne's feet while he was sitting at his kit. He was wearing a pair of sneakers, or basketball shoes.
The particular make of those shoes will make your hair stand on end.
They were Air Jordan 11 Concords.
For your question on who is who, Mark is in reference to the wind player’s uncle who passed away to covid. Isaac is the main vocal of the band who left a few days before the release of the record. Charli in Basketball Shoes is in reference to Charli XCX and how the isaac used to have wet dreams about her but the lyric in the context of the song and album has changed beyond the initial idea
Sounds weird bri
isaac never had wet dreams about charli xcx, he was making a commentary on mega fans of artists who go to creepy lengths to obsess over them. he changed the lyrics as it wasnt obvious to most people that it wasnt autobiographical and that he was playing a character
I have only snipped a few bits of the reaction/review so far, but I will say this album makes a lot more sense if you interpret the relationship at its core as the relationship between an artist and their art. The vocalist/songwriter left the band shortly after the release of this album due to mental health issues. There's a little bit of this on Opus, from their debut record, a track you also checked out. Although you could take it literally as a toxic relationship, it's way more powerful if you have the context of what was going on behind the scenes, and things start to fit a lot better. This is an album I checked out thanks to the amazing communtiy we have and I get why it's been so critically acclaimed. Really beautiful, filled with amazing musicianship and an overwhelming concept (in a good way!). Definitely making my albums of the year list. I'm looking forward to checking the whole reaction/review later.
Taking my impression of the album and flipping it to be about his relationship to the music, to the band, that certainly increases the impact of some of these tracks. I might have to give it another spin on my own with that concept in mind.
Thank you for this analiysis!
After the initial reaction, have you revisited this album?
I feel like Basketball shoes might grow on you with time, though for me it was an instant hit. I think the closer here is supposed to recap in the same way people recap their failed relationships after a breakup. This is a musical metaphor of post-breakup grief that comes in stages, sometimes you are optimistic about bettering yourself and finding another partner, sometimes you are devastated by the loss of connection to the closest person you had in your life, and the song sounds this way. I really feel this "I'm on my own now, for better or worse" when I listen to it. And the ending part feels like ascension above all of what happened in this relationship and looking at it "from up there", seeing that the care and attention of other person was not a gift but in fact a loan, and the interest (maybe toxicity or abuse, maybe just misunderstanding) turned out to be unbearable.
For me this track is the essence of the album, you have 50 minutes of loading this musical gun and one huge shot
I haven't had another chance yet but I love your interpretation of a 50 minute build up with a final cathartic payoff.
I've listened to this album at least 50 times since it came out, and it quickly became one of my all-time favorites. My favorite track since the first time I heard it was basketball shoes, I've never considered that it doesn't fit in the album since I love it so much, but you are totally right. It does feel like it undermines other tracks and disrupts the perfectly crafted order of the rest of the album. This was a great reaction. Thanks for putting in a crazy amount of time and effort!
God this album has quickly become one of my favorites. Personally, I consider this album a modern masterpiece and im excited to hear your thoughts, as you always have something additive to say! (loved your will wood and Tom waits breakdowns!)
So for me The Concorde is a metaphor for his relationships. Concorde jet was a British build jet and was marred by many issues and negative attention …it required way more money than initially thought and was delayed over and over and obsessed on by those building it almost to an unhealthy degree. Using it as a metaphor for a failing relationship with his band and personal life as a repeated thing in his final album with them before leaving definitely felt intentional to me. It’s so funny how in the song you mentioned the instruments are almost acting as support and humans being there for him through his declining mental state. Great album. Isaac will be missed but I’m grateful for what he and his band mates have given us.
Concorde is defunct. It actually only ever flew a handful of flights. So all that design and years spent for a massive crash to essentially kill it and all potential. Kinda must be what the songwriter/Singer felt when he knew for his own mental health he had to step away.
my favorite album this year alongside Big Thief. Nice reaction and analysis!
As an amateur producer and someone who loves to dissect music. Your ability to easily detect certain things in a track is impressive. I want to be as musically literate as you one day.
hearing him talk about the drums blending in knowing snow globes is coming is perfect
Snow Globes is my favorite piece in the entire score thanks to the drums section. i actually really like that the drums are a turn off for a lot of other people. i always get teary eyes whenever that part starts.
It's incredible how much emotion those drums convey. Chaotic and beautiful.
i love how the drums are wayyy louder than isaac, like hes drowning
Basketball shoes was the first song written on the album and I have heard that the rest of the album was kind of written based on it.
Great reaction man. It is (particularly in narrative aspects) a challenging record. I loved the way you tried to go over it and the musical takes. Usually I don’t like these “reactions” videos but this one is beyond most of them. Cheers!
What you say about the drums hiding in plain sight was very interesting, because that makes snowglobes an even more deliberate vehicle for the drums.
I've always had the exact same feeling about Basketball Shoes as you've described here. I know so many people hold it in high regard, but something about it just didn't tie the album together in quite the way I wanted it to. There's an unmistakeable flow to the rest of the record which seems to disappear for the final 12 minutes. It's not a bad track by any means, but nice to know I'm not on my own on this one.
I have to agree - I particularly think the last segment ("In my bedsheets now wet") is underwhelming. It lacks any of the intricacy that the rest of the album has. It's like it's trying to be a big crescendo , but forgets to do anything other than be loud.
That last segment of the last song is the only part of the album I don't like.
I think the same about Basketball Shoes. but it works for that same reason for me. Snow Globes is the only true true climax on the entire record, it's the only moment of true release, the only thrilling part. that to me is kind of where the album ends; Basketball Shoes, on the other hand, feels like it's the song playing while the credits roll. it's not a reprise really, but it grabs from all the parts of the album and revisits all the moods, not repeating them. it's like it's own little journey, separate from the rest but still fitting due to how it incorporates all the sounds. for that reason I think this song works solely at the end of the album, it's easily the one I revisit the least mainly because by itself it'd be super dry and kind of pointless. it has gente moments, dynamics, sad moments and finishes off with a hell of a finale. I love it in the context of the album
basketball shoes was originally about a wet dream the singer had about charli xcx. the whole wet dream thing also served as a metaphor about creative fulfillment and how rewarding it is to feel recognised by someone you admire in their own field (as the song originally sung about how charli is a fan of isaac and has read all his prose). the final part of the song (except the all i've been forms the drone, which is most likely just a replacement verse that speaks sentimentally about the music itself and maybe relates it to sex in a way) is about how isaac has been unable to perform (sexually) in the past due to him having to take sertraline to deal with depression. he prays to forget about charli (maybe because it's embarassing, maybe because the dream feeds on the fantasy of a creative fulfillment that he cannot achieve outside of his dreams) while being in his wet bedsheets (he has finally been able to be sexually satisfied and has ejaculated). the loan she gave him was generous (he has not only been praised by her in dreams, the dream itself has granted him the ability to be sexually gratified once more), but the interest makes the loan not worth it (it's all still a fantasy and the mere remembrance of it reminds him that, when it comes to real life, he still underperforms and he still has all his impostor syndrome)
interesting!!
Now i know how to spend my weekend. Gotta watch the whole analysis. Thanks a lot 😊
A gentle hill racer is a reference to the album cover of their first album when being in a bad was new and "gentle"
Isaac is the singer who is flying like concorde, billie eilish style.
Probably the best music reaction youtuber I've ever seen. Great job man, seriously.
Greetings from six months in the future 😅
I just wanted to say a little piece of my interpretation of basketball shoes. The first line references Concorde (freakin AAAAgain), but then he says it tears his house to shreds. I don’t know if the way I hear this is true to authorial intent, but I hear him being literal about Concorde. Like, “yeah, I’ve played out this metaphor teehee”.
So with that as the first line, I treat the final song as mostly for fun. I think we hear how fun this album is throughout, but maybe I’m biased through interviews and seeing them live. But it’s like you’re emo band kid thing.
And I think it makes the concept of the album messier. BUT THEN MY GIGA BRAIN tells me that it’s supposed to be messy, both because of how self aware they are and how young and ambitious and untethered they are.
In this way the whole album is earnestly cringy. And basketball shoes is the perfect ending.
When I add on the extra layer of Isaac leaving the band I think the vibe is even more solidified. It’s a celebration. It’s mourning. It’s triumphant. It’s desperate. It’s confused. It’s talented. It’s earnest. It’s zoomers trying to live up to some expectation of greatness (they’ve said before they want to be the next Arcade Fire, an emo band in their own right who unfortunately continues to be cringy as forty-somethings).
I can’t really imagine this vibe being improved upon. When it’s refined, it’s erased. This is not to say we can’t be frustrated with musical or lyrical decisions. Only that we can be frustrated and endeared if we surrender to it.
Oh yeah also Concorde flying into his room could be referencing Donnie darko, the quintessential cringy emo coming of age film!
Love your analysis, although I would disagree with the assessment that Basketball Shoes is a retreading of previous ideas done worse or a poorly constructed song.The first half of the track is very midwest emo-ey which is a sound that wasn't really covered elsewhere on the album. I also think the sudden stops and false starts fit within the context of the song because they always lead into the same six-note motif that's repeated throughout it's duration. It allows for the stunning dynamic shifts that wouldn't be possible without the silence.
To me, it's a lot more structurally compelling than Snow Globes, which doesn't change the underlying melody for it's whole duration. The drum solo idea also could have been executed a lot better imo. (The mixing is a little too wonky for my tastes, and the vocals should have been louder.) Personally, I'd rather remove that track and then have The Place go straight into Basketball Shoes.
I think you've been vindicated in counting "Intro" in 4/4 !
There's a long interview with the band, which includes snippets of demos and outtakes from the album.
At 1 hour 21 min mark, you can hear one of the members counting "One Two One Two"
m.ruclips.net/video/d7Dz0PkscdY/видео.htmlh21m
Yooooooo what?!? I had accepted that I was just counting a polyrhythm to their intended meter but this is neat.
edit: OK, on a second listen the person counting in has a longer break between 2 and 1. This isn't uncommon when counting in fast time signatures like this. The first group of 2 eighth notes is counted as 1 while the second group of 3 eighth notes is counted as 2. This is a lot more manageable than trying to count to 5 quickly. So it probably is in 5/8 and I'm feeling a polyrhythmic 4/4. Still, thanks for bringing this to my attention. It certainly clarifies exactly what their intention is even if it goes against what I'm feeling it as.
@@CriticalReactions No prob! Thanks for the explaination, that makes a lot of sense. One day I'll be able to wrap my brain around time signatures and rhythms lol
Never knew you reacted to them! Excited to watch
There are minimalist influences here. That’s maybe a better musical lense through which to view the first two tracks and Haldern. Listen to Floe off of Glassworks (by Philip Glass) and come back to it. On your own time of course.
Edit: Yeah, it’s definitely very emo.
Edit2: You were confused about the upbeat tone of The Place Where He Inserted The Blade. Basing this off of your interpretation of the album, maybe TPWHITB is musically referencing how he felt when he was in the relationship. He couldn’t see the red flags (lyrics) past the roses (music).
Edit3: This might be stating the obvious, but I like to think about Snow Globes musically in terms of an actual snow globe. It starts out with nothing happening (the silence and then single line), then it gets picked up and jostled (slight additional elements), then it gets shaken up violently (the DRUMS), then the snow is falling (the more energetic follow up to the peak), and then it finally goes back to nothing happening (the reiteration of the beginning).
Edit4:
For Basketball Shoes (based off your interpretation), maybe this works for the lyrics:
Verse 1 = A fresh start with haunting tinges of the past
Verse 2 = A new relationship that strongly reminds of the past one, which is torturing
Outro = mental anguish because they can’t forget the past relationship and just move on
And then musically:
A chaotic blur of the past and present melding together as the memories come flooding back due to the new “normal”
I haven't listened to very much minimalist music, but listening to the second half of this album i'm always reminded of Philip Glass. I presumed i was making a connection where there was none, so i'm glad someone else hears it.
Holy Cow! Thanks for all this. Between this and other in depth comments I'm beginning to get a much clearer picture of the intentions with this album. It's fascinating just how deep it all is.
Basketball shoes has this feeling of a climax, ending on a high. I think the chaotic disjointed nature really doesn't bother me at all in fact it improves it due to the song never getting stale or dwelling too long on one idea
I believe I have a solid take on Snow Globes lyrically. It's not the same relationship as the previous songs, in fact it's not even about the vocalist anymore, but some friend Harry. It's definitely a gay song: Harry is probably gay but struggling with his feelings and religion. See the shrine, and the fact it doesn't look like Jesus (religious dogma vs what jesus should represent). Harry was in love with a friend, who told him about exploring their bodies (at this part the drums shake like bones), but Harry didn't go on. Religion promised to make him whole but he's empty. And then the emotional storm that comes with the drums is just the snow globe shaking. Again this song has nothing to do with the rest of the album
I almost cry reading this because I'm exactly like Henry and this makes me feel a bit more understood
Obviously we’ll never know what ‘Concorde’ exactly means to Isaac but I think it’s a mix of a few things. Namely, I think it’s the bands success and the band getting recognition but it would deteriorate Isaac’s mental state the more it’s pushed (touring, performing, fame). Isaac will suffer and Concorde will fly?
on god will hunting wondering if/when he will realise that the the first time all these things came up was at the end of chaos space marine
Concorde is a british/french supersonic plane that is no longer allowed to fly.
Billie eillish style is about her fast rise to musical fame (not her dress sense)
billie eilish style going to berlin for a little while is about how billie had suicidal thoughts on a berlin hotel, also probably issac is talking about apperance or personality of the girl
you: “the drums are unheard”
me, slowly lowering my chopsticks that i was using as drumsticks: “haha… yeah…”
I have picked this album to pieces, here we go.
The most important thing about this album. Is the lead singer quit the band the day it was released.
And knowing this explains the album.
That is such an important detail to what this album represents.
Great instrumental analysis but it feels like the kind of lyrics you enjoy need to be very overt. I personally enjoy the mystery of Isaac's anecdotal, strange lyricism and always came away with my own interpretation that is probably very different to everyone else's
Love this analysis you should react to their first album as well :)
Yesss I'm so glad you did this album. Can't wait to watch it 💯
In rainbows best album of all time
PLEASE REACT TO HELLFIRE BY BLACK MIDI PLSSSS
When you wonder if you have the stamina to listen to a whole new album, and then hear the first 10 seconds and are like "Yeah man, lets go!" - Also, the album art put me off, but I do like the drunk octopus holding the bag, air sickness bag? 2:20 - Excited tingles occur... 2 seconds later and David Bowie occurs :) Damn, not sold? This is so inventive, critical analysis to the max? For me this is beautiful so far. Tracks 1 & 2 seemingly. The a-symmetric riff reminds me of an excellent song by Azure - Ameotoko Pt1. The Curse (please check this out, its my No1 album of 2021). You say 'Abrasive', I say 'inspiring'. 17:20 - yes, on point, defo.
Concorde - I'm hearing similar vocals now to ... I can't remember... Thinking Noah and the Whale, but that's not quite right... or is it?
Bread Song - Shivers immediately, ?Haldern? ok, well I can at least look forward to that. Actual Bread song, I feel Nick Drake perhaps. Wasn't really feeling the vibe initially, but the song really grew on me and made me thing of the essence of music. Right I'll revisit this soon. Sleep calls
And, days later I finally get through it... Well I'll need to hear this album properly now to understand how I feel about it. I only struggled with Snow Globes.
Great review!
For "intro" you are saying it is a group of 2 and a group of 4, making a wonky 4/4, but I believe you are hearing a beat that is not there. It is a group of 2 plus a group of 3, making a 5/8 feel
Yup, I'm 100% hearing a polyrhythm against the 5/8. Even now that I know it's in 5/8 (I even heard them count it off in a behind the scenes clip) I still feel it in a 2:5 polyrhythm -- the 4 pulse just makes so much more sense to my mind for some reason. I conducted the 4 pulse that I feel in the reaction if you're curious what the looks/sounds/feels like.
From where I see you conducting it looks like you’re conducting a quick 5/8 pattern splitting it into a group of 2 and 3 (which is what’s happening). Your hand bounces on the down beat of the bar and then the third best of the bar, and then the down beat of the next bar, splitting 2-3-2-3 etc. The way you explain it at 11:35 as a block of 2 and a block of 4 is just wrong. You seem to be adding a beat in your head that isn’t there. It’s a block of 2 then a block of 3. The first block is sol re and the second block is mi do ti. Those then continue to loop. The second block only consists of those 3 beats, not the 4th that you seem to be hearing
I actually felt intro like a 5 beat thing like "takatakita takatakita" . am i alone in this? did i miss a beat?
Nope, you're spot on. Intro is written in 5/4. I was feeling it in a weird polyrhythm
I really enjoyed this reaction!
wowowow can't wait to watch this!
uh did I interpret wrong or isn't intro in 5?
This keeps coming up so I'm thinking I might need to make a quick video about it. I conducted the 4 that I felt in the reaction. I felt it in 2:5 where every 5 beats of 5/4 was 2 beats of 4/4, giving me 1 bar of my 4/4 for every 2 bars of the 5/4. It's basically a half-time polymeter and I have no idea why that still feels more normal to me than the intended 5.
I think the jesus thinģ may hàvè to ďo with thè killers
The intro is in 5/8
It surely didnt feel like 4/4
Listening specifically for the 5/8 I can hear it but I gotta force that angle. The 4/4 polyrhythm feels so much more natural to me. I even conducted the 4/4 at the start to show it how I was feeling it. I'm feeling it in a 5:2 ratio where the 5 beats make up half of a 4/4 bar.
Great reaction!
Atkins is a metaphor for self improvement but also feeling like you need to be better.
finally
Oh shit
intro is in 5/4 bruh
Yup. What's weird is I still don't feel it in 5. I can now force myself into the 5 knowing that's how it's written but that is not how I feel that section at all. I even conducted the meter I felt during that part of the reaction. For whatever reason, I feel that section in a polyrhythm of their intended feel.
@@CriticalReactions would love to see a video about how you do not feel that as a 5/4!
@@qsusio I guess you could hear the accents on 1 and 3 as a really wonky 2/4 or if you hear two bars as one a really wonky 4/4...
Bread i think is a metaphor for the band (how he makes his money/bread) and he's obsessed with the band/bread, and the girl is tired of it, and this pushes her away, and he only notices when it's too late what the band is doing.
I Don't think bread is used here as slang for money, I think the bread crumbs represent the little private things about him, maybe faults, that are forbidden by the girl in a moment of rejection- she is not willing to be intimate with him
The last verse of basketball shoes is about the singer continuing to obsess and be emotionally effected by his heartbreak. “Charlie” is term used in Vietnam as a name for enemy soldiers. He is relating his trauma to the ptsd that they experienced after coming back from the war. The generous loan, the crippling interest, it’s a metaphor for his trauma. Also as far as the song not fitting, I’m pretty sure it was written before any of the other songs on the album. There are videos of them playing it during their first album cycle.
its actually about a wet dream he had about charli xcx lmao
although i am guessing they eventually changed the meaning to fit the album
Or a bad night on cocaine playing the rockstar.
omg omg
Dude who calls himself a composer reacting to a song in 5/4:
'really bouncy but still in 4/4'
What do you compose? Smoke alarms?
dickish comment lol