| Dredg – Matroshka Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Okay, I was asked to post some more. I've compiled a manuscript of all of Dredg's material (40 pages long), and I've listened to them every day for a year. I'm a sad individual, aren't I? :_) But I love them. Anyway, let's get down to it. Dredg has a lots of bits of wisdom all jumbled up into one album. "Your head was in the clouds, now those clouds are in your head." This is significant to what is called the "dark night of the soul", where the spirit experiences an absence of god. You begin to doubt the clouds around you, they are all fake, that sort of thing. Notice the running themes in all of their albums. Many of them are obvious god symbols: sun, clouds (as mentioned before), sky. But this song doesn't end in divine absence, it ends in divine union, becoming one with God. It's deep mystical stuff. And remember bug eyes lyric? "Your journey back to birth is haunting you." If you look at the poster drawn with this song (which is the FINAL song, as though it were the final part of the spiritual journey) has three symbols of birth: a woman, sperm and egg, and two circles conjoined (meaning sex). Enlightenment is also described as returning to the original state of mind, the mind of a child, of a baby. Also, I believe that after a certain point, you are drawn by a higher source. "You walk the path until the path walks you." This goes well with the lyric "it's when you needed me, so I listened to what you said." You have no free will in a really deep mystical way, is what I think it's saying. And of course the next bit: time! That's a huge theme with Dredg, it's in all three of their albums. Even the artist that they salute with El Cielo, Salvador Dali, was famous for his renditions of melting clocks. This next lyric about whole year went by, and how he fought time but lost. When you become unattached to time, is what this means. You accept that things are the way they are, has been what has been, and will be what will be. Another way to say it is "surrender", but in a deeper context then merely saying "surrender to the lord", but total surrender: to time, to god, to circumstances. This is the ninth ox herding picture, "returning to the source" (the ox herding pictures were what were used thousands of years ago to teach peasants what the path to enlightenment was over in the east). It's also very interesting, and extremely paradoxical that Gavin chose the phrase "hold tight" at the end. To a novice on the path to enlightenment, you'd think it would be "let go", instead it is reversed, "hold tight." In a very paradoxical way, you do both. You let go and hold tight at the same time. That's what it means. That's it for the lyrics, on to the painting that accompanies it. Notice the praying mantis. It's in a lot of their paintings, as a running theme. The pun, of course, is on the "praying" mantis. The castonate dolls are anybody's guess. It could point to the title "The ornament", at the same time symbolizing the spiritual journey again, as a shedding of layers. You go inside of yourself, and find a new self. Go inside that one, find another one, until you reach the center (another pun on the spiritual journey). In the top left corner, there is a key lodged in a circle. It's interesting that this key should appear here, since in the first song of their album Leimotif, the homeless man said "patience is the key", and here they say that "honesty" is the key. Maybe in the beginning of the spiritual journey, you need to be incredibly patient, and near the end of the spiritual journey, you need to be incredibly honest. The key changes, maybe? And of course, there are the bugs in the top right corner. There are so many things to say about them: they are each incredibly unique, and each incredibly small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. They are humble when you think of their size as small (it's very wise to humble, as we all know). And of course, you can look at the whole world in a nihilistic kind of way, and see that we are all just little bugs on a little planet, living our lives, doing whatever it is that humans do. It could also be a paradox of superiority and inferiority. Here in the picture, the bugs are drawn with glamour and seem to be held very highly, when in our minds we think, they are nothing but bugs. Anyway, I think I'm done for now. Good night! |
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| Dredg – Matroshka Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The reason why Dredg is so amazing is that Gavin works on paradoxes and layers, especially in this album. In the first part of the song, he says that love is a freedom. And later, he said that he was forced to love. "For once I held you tight, but shadowed hands grabbed at me." He holds on to the (whatever), and something else holds on to him when he does it. Almost as though he were holding onto himself, as though not to lose the self (Dredg has a lot to do with the spiritual journey). Another paradox: love like a callous. Callouses come from a whole lot of work and pain and strife, so you can no longer feel pain in that area of your body. So does love mean you no longer feel someone's pain? Or does Gavin mean you feel the pain, but you don't suffer? That would go well with Bhuddist enlightenment: "pain is mandatory. Suffering is optional." Another note: Dredg has much to do with opposites and halves. Notice the paintings that go with the songs and how each song talks about two sides of things. Well, this song seems to be no different. Listen to the first part of the song. Happy joyous rapture from the instruments and singing harmonious voice, but at the same time, the lyrics are incredibly sad (paradox). And then the second half of the song is composed of incredibly sad acoustics and then as far as lyrics go: SILENCE. Enlightenment is about achieving peace of mind, and to end in a silent beginning. Oh, I could go on and on. |
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