digital sea [song of the week]

Well, I never meant for "song of the week" to become bi-weekly, but unfortunately that's been the case lately. Whoopsie. I'll try to keep up from now on, I just always seem to have really busy Tuesdays, so I tend to forget. Tonight, however, I remembered! Actually, I've been meaning to feature this song for awhile, so it's about time.

The song of the week is "Digital Sea" by Thrice.


Photo from http://www.myspace.com/thrice

Prior to January, I'd heard of Thrice but had never taken the time to listen to them. I had heard JP of We The Living mention that he really liked them, plus WTL had them in their top friends on Myspace, so I eventually got around to listening to them. As it turns out, they're a rock/electronic band with songs that span a whole range of styles. This was the first song of theirs that I listened to, and it was pretty much all it took for me to go to Borders and buy the album containing the song later that day. The current album is The Alchemy Index Vol. I and II (Fire and Water). Volume I is "Fire" and contains some rather thrashing heavy rock songs, while Volume II is "Water" and has an ethereal, nearly opposite sound from the Fire disc. I know that Volumes III and IV (Earth and Wind) are coming soon. When WTL was here the other day, we were listening to the albums and JP was hypothesizing that Fire is their nod to their older sound, while Water is closer to the direction they're moving, and he thinks Earth and Wind will have sounds more like Water. No matter what they decide to do, it's a fascinating way of putting out albums and I really enjoy their work.

Back to "Digital Sea" specifically, I really love the feel of this song. For some reason, I've always liked songs that have that nervous edge to them. I don't know if it's the key, the melody, or the lyrics, but I just love it when a song makes you feel like something is about to happen, but you're not sure what, or if it's good or bad. Maybe that's weird, but I like my music to invoke some emotion, and if that emotion happens to be apprehension, so be it. The imagery in the lyrics is also quite stunning, and they blend in the electronica aspect so smoothly (think Mute Math). I could see myself choreographing something to this. When it's on in my room, I find myself moving to it pretty easily. It would have to be some kind of lyrical/modern hybrid, and I'm not skilled at creating dances in either style, but I suppose we'll see. I think it's best to listen to this song loudly, preferably with headphones to catch all the nuances in the music. The sound quality in the video I'm posting isn't top-notch, and the video isn't all that much to look at either, so if I were you, I'd listen to it on their myspace. Either way, this is one of my favorite songs right now, so I hope you like it as well.



I woke, cold and alone,
adrift in the open sea;
caught up in regrets,
and tangled in nets,
instead of your arms wrapped around me.
And I wept but my tears are anathema here,
just more water to fill my lungs.
I hear someone scream,
“God what is it we have done?”

I am drowning in a digital sea;
I am slipping beneath the sound.
Here my voice goes, to ones and zeros,
I’m slipping beneath the sound.

A song from somewhere below,
deadly and slow begins.
Both sickly and sweet,
now picking up speed,
and ushering in the world’s end.
And the ghost of Descartes screams again in the dark,
"Oh how could I have been so wrong?"
But above the screams still the sirens sing their song

I am drowing in a digital sea;
I am slipping beneath the sound.
Here my voice goes, to ones and zeroes,
I'm slipping beneath the sound.

Here my voice goes, to ones and zeroes...