"They heard me singing and they told me to stop/ quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock/ these days my life, I feel it has no purpose/ but late at night the feelings swim to the surface."
Way to beat me to the punch on describing my feelings, Arcade Fire. I don't know if I could more accurately put into the words those little nuances and naggings of my life situation right now. This is my life right now, and I'm not trying to be all dramatic. My life is punctuated only by going to work and coming home and going online and sleeping. Then waking up and doing it again. This monotonous routine I'm sure is shared by 99% of the population of the world, and I want to be in that 1% who lives life freely. Big ambitions yes, but it's not impossible.
Anyway, those lyrics come from the song "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" from Arcade Fire's newest album, which comes out today actually, The Suburbs. From the reviews I've read, it's quite amazing and with songs as good as this one, I'm optimistic. "Sprawl II" is not a sad sounding song, contrary to the downtrodden situations it describes. Feelings of being lost among the chaos of the world. Constantly plowing forward not caring what souls it crushes on the way. "Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains/ and there's no end in sight/ I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights." The melody line is a quietly powerful electronic beat that makes it almost hopeful. Maybe we can escape from the vicious cycle of the ordinary. "Can we ever get away from the sprawl?" Well, we don't know but we'll just hold on and hope so.
Youtube - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
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