Tag Archives: mind

#1096: The Killers – Read My Mind

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So I think this might be the greatest song The Killers have ever done. Forget ‘Mr. Brightside’ or ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’. Nah, it’s ‘Read My Mind’ from the band’s Sam’s Town album, their sophomore effort released back in 2006. I remember that era of the band quite well. That album came around when I was just starting my first year of secondary school. ‘When You Were Young’ arrived as the triumphant first single, Brandon Flowers had the moustache. ‘Bones’ followed as the next single. Their first Christmas single followed. That’s a good one. And then came ‘Read My Mind’ as the third single.

Now, to me, The Killers have always been a band that you can always count on for great singles. They always seem to be the best songs on every album they make. And when it came to Sam’s Town, each one that followed after the next continued that winning streak the band had established ever the first release of ‘Mr. Brightside’ years before. Now, eleven-year-old me would see the ‘Read My Mind’ video frequently on MTV2 when it was time for its release, and I thought the song was cool, you know? The group were riding around on bikes and getting up to all sorts of antics in Tokyo, and the music matched the uplifting mood of the visuals. But a closer listen to the song in proper headphones throughout the years revealed just how hooky and infectious the entire track is, from the those ghostly backing vocals to the guitar fills after each iteration of the ‘read my mind’ title phrase in the verses. There are a lot more melodic tidbits to latch on to, but those are just a couple I can highlight.

I don’t know what the song’s about. Brandon Flowers has never really given much away in terms of the meaning either. What he has said before is that it’s one of his favourite Killers songs, it started out as a completely different song and that it means a lot to people because when they play it live at concerts the crowd goes crazy. It must be important to the band in some way, as their latest singles compilation is named after a lyric from the song. From what I’ve gathered, looking back at this period in the Killers history, they were very much on their Springsteen/U2 tip and the lyrics seem to be very much in the vein of the former, written from the perspective of a self-determined man who’s looking to get out of town with this lady he’s interested in. There’s a ‘Born to Run’ feeling about it all, but Brandon Flowers and co. deliver it all in a way that make it distinctly Killers. Also, gotta give huge props to the solo on this track. Huge feeling of release when it cascades into the bridge.

#1020: Beach House – Pay No Mind

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God, 2018 was five years ago, how strange is that? Nothing too remarkable happened for me that year. But it was a good time to be a Beach House fan. Three years on after the surprise double release of Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars, and along came 7 – the band’s aptly-titled seventh album. The headline news behind this new album was that Sonic Boom (Peter Kember) would be producing it, the first of the band’s not to be (co-)produced by Chris Coady since Devotion in 2008. The big question, how would this move affect Beach House’s sound? The answer, not by a vast amount. Beach House sounded like Beach House as per usual. No complaints. But Kember’s production provided a difference in sonics that sets the record apart from the others within the band’s discography.

‘Pay No Mind’ is the second track on 7. After the propulsive start of ‘Dark Spring’, proceedings are slowed right down. Alex Scally’s reverb-drenched guitars are accompanied by reverb-drenched snare and kick drum, and a constant synthesizer hum to represent what would be the bassline. The production work here makes the sonic palette sound expansive and far-reaching, and so warm that it feels like I’m sinking to a huge cushion when I listen to it. Can appreciate a good song that does that. And when everything truly opens up at around 1:26 in, with those chiming piano keys. Well, that’s just a moment of euphoria right there. Victoria Legrand’s vocals are as smooth as ever, only adding to the overall consoling tone that I don’t think I’m wrong in saying the track is going for.

Terms of lyrics, in one way I think the majority of it is made of words where the syllables needed to match the rhythm of the music. Not to say that the lyrics are inconsistent or poorly written, because they aren’t. But I think there’s a definite feel of lyrics to evoke imagery rather than to provide a narrative. Where the most ‘soul-bearing’ or whatever occurs is in what I guess you would label as the chorus: “Baby at night when I look at you/Nothing in this world keeps me confused/All it takes: look in your eyes.” I mean, that’s real love-feelings isn’t it. Otherwise, I think the song’s main message is in its title. Things won’t go as you want them to go. You’ve got to do what you can to make in this world, but it takes time. Don’t work yourself up into a stress. Pay no mind. Or something to that effect.

#1005: Adrianne Lenker – out of your mind

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2019. Was a new year, and I had recently been laid off from my first job out of uni. To pass the time, while mind-numbingly scanning through applications, I listened to a bunch of albums that the Indieheads subreddit page had listed as ‘Album of the Year’ for 2018. There were 30 of them. There was only one I properly liked. It was abysskiss by Adrianne Lenker. You see the Wikipedia page I just linked to? I created it. I couldn’t take that a page hadn’t been made for it. Last year November I created a Wikipedia account just to make the thing. Listening to that album began a whole domino effect. I sought out Big Thief, listened to Capacity and Masterpiece. Kinda dug them both. But then ‘UFOF’, the single, came out, followed by ‘Cattails’, ‘Century’ and then U.F.O.F. the album, and just like that, Adrianne Lenker became a new favourite songwriter of mine.

‘out of your mind’ arrives as a bit of an odd one when going through abysskiss. After the four mainly acoustic folky, synth-tinged numbers that come before it, ‘…mind’ opens with a grungy electric guitar. Sprightly acoustic guitars take up the rest of the soundscape in both channels, but what I think the track is based around is Lenker singing the vocal while playing that electric guitar in one take. I’m not much of a lyrics guy, but what I gather is that there is a relationship involved. The whole time you’ll think Lenker’s singing about the person she’s seeing, but it’s when she uses her ‘Annie’ nickname in the last chorus that it becomes clear she’s actually taking on the perspective of her significant other. In that way, she’s reflecting on the way she acts as a person and how her partner may perceive her. It’s certainly a different way of approaching a narrative, particularly in a song.

This track is one of most recent I’ve heard when I had a sort of “eureka/a-ha!” moment. For a long while, I was having some major rhythm displacement with it. Every time I was singing along to it, I always found that the “Is it aaaannyyyy…” line for the chorus came in a beat too late. Everything was all 4/4 until that last bar before the chorus. Turned out I was missing the count-in completely. It sounded to me like the downbeat came on the very first strum of the electric guitar that starts the song. It actually starts on the second. So instead of 1-2-3-4, it’s “and, 1-2-3-4”. It would be a lot handier to visually explain it. But once I realised it, it was like ten lightbulbs going off in my head. I liked the song even with my off-timing, but with it all coming together, it truly secured itself as a favourite.

#844: Talking Heads – Mind

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The album sleeve will tell you that ‘I Zimbra’ is the first song on Talking Heads’ Fear of Music. But for me, the record doesn’t truly start until the following number. With ‘Mind’, the whole ‘concept’ of being frightened/obsessed with the thing listed in the song titles properly begins. Here, David Byrne wants to know what’s going on in the listener’s head. Or at least to whoever/whatever he was thinking about at the time of writing the lyric.

After the party-conga-like tone of ‘I Zimbra’, ‘Mind’ brings things back down to earth with a hefty crash of a cymbal and a great reduction in tempo. There are these pleasant keyboards that fade in and out of the mix, but the guitars and bass play these odd notes that keep things sounding unusual. Then Byrne comes in. If you weren’t intrigued by the band elements, then it’s Byrne’s voice that will gain your attention. He sounds resigned at the beginning. Like he’s been examining us for a while and has started singing the song to pass the time. With every iteration of the “I need something…” chorus, Byrne seems to become progressively unhinged in his delivery, culminated in a huge scream on the very last word of the song.

I think ‘Mind’ gives a great taste of things to come throughout the album. Moreso than ‘I Zimbra’ which amps you up more than anything. Crazy vocals, far out synthesizer work and production, awkward sounding notes here and there. Classic Talking Heads stuff.

#772: They Might Be Giants – Lost My Mind

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They Might Be Giants’ ‘Lost My Mind’ was initially released on a teaser EP leading up to the band’s then upcoming Nanobots album in 2013. Alongside it came ‘Call You Mom’, a rocker about a narrator with mummy issues, and ‘Black Ops’, a stranger number that was a bit more experimental. ‘Lost My Mind’ was my favourite on that collection and stayed as one of my highlights when the album eventually came out.

In this song, John Linnell takes the phrase of ‘losing someone’s mind’ and puts it in a very literal sense. The narrator’s mind has gone missing, they think they might have misplaced it somewhere, and if it’s buried underground they’re not going to go digging for it because they don’t have the time. Some fans of TMBG really wish to understand the meaning behind a lot of the band’s songs. Sometimes they’re so surreal that it makes a lot of listeners wonder what Linnell and Flansburgh are on about. I’m not sure there’s much in ‘Lost My Mind’ to deeply understand though. It’s one of the few where you just have to take it as it is. I think that’s an aspect that makes it stand out to me.

Also there’s bags of melodies in here that I can’t help but sing along to. The track has a bit of a wandering feel to it. In contrast to ‘Call You Mom’, the track that preceded it on the Nanobots EP, ‘Lost’ is a slow burner and the guitars in your face as much. It’s midtempo, carried by a blaring keyboard played by usual guitarist Dan Miller and a steady rhythm section. John Linnell sings the lead and does so very well. I like the final chorus in which John Flansburgh sings the backing while Linnell holds out a longer note and sing together to create a good countermelody. That’s something to look out for.