I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Slain, by your zirconium smile
I was slain by your olivine eyes,
Slain, I was lying in piles, hoping shovels would cast me in.
Furnaces burn everlasting, black tattoos of you on to me.Furnaces burn everlasting, black tattoos.
Burn, brand my memory, black tattoo of you.
Wash me with your mouth, brackish bright water from your eyes
Homing pigeons fly to hover by your window white and shy.
Homing pigeons fly to hover by.
Spill my ashes to the wind.
Ghosts gather what they found (ghosts will gather what they found)
Now we can strugle in the web
We can struggle
With white spider stars come down.
And night blowing black from the ground.
I was slain by your olivine eyes,
Slain, I was lying in piles, hoping shovels would cast me in.
Furnaces burn everlasting, black tattoos of you on to me.Furnaces burn everlasting, black tattoos.
Burn, brand my memory, black tattoo of you.
Wash me with your mouth, brackish bright water from your eyes
Homing pigeons fly to hover by your window white and shy.
Homing pigeons fly to hover by.
Spill my ashes to the wind.
Ghosts gather what they found (ghosts will gather what they found)
Now we can strugle in the web
We can struggle
With white spider stars come down.
And night blowing black from the ground.
Lyrics submitted by queenofquiet23, edited by littlelyric, reod_dai
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This new album is outstanding. It's in a different league from Troubled by the Fire and Carbon Glacier.
This song's name, I believe, provides most insight to its meaning. I think that it's about being drawn (or magnetized!) toward something that's bad for you, or that's a hindrance.
The first verse suggests a man who seems to have lured a girl into a romance that ended in a bad situation (hence "Slain...wishing shovels would cast me in). The black tattoos represent marks of him on her, the fact that she hasn't and won't forget him.
Homing pigeons, of course, represent returning home. She returns to him, "hovering by his window" yet to afraid and scarred to return into a relationship.
I think the last verse is talking about the fact that she's trapped herself in a web by returning to him. Eventually, she will be ruined (possibly by obsessive love of him, or something along those lines).
"White spider stars" must be one of my favourite metaphors. Beautiful song.
I don't know if i 100% agree with your police work there queenofquiet.
For me the first verse is focused on her love - that slain is a good word here, the person has killed her with love and that she hopes to be scooped up and thrown inside of the love. The black tattoos are a sign that she does not want the love to fail.
I'm not sure about the second verse, it sounds a little like she is returning to his home as a homing pigeon but i'm not certain.
The last verse really creates a feeling of magnetism to me. The "spider stars" being created from the downward pull of the earth and the "black" of night coming up from the earth...
We're all connected man! Whoa!
it's "brackish bright water," not "blackish"
the third line refers to coal, i believe.
This is probably my favorite song (at least top two) on this album, which is my favorite of hers.
This song always brings to mind the feelings of first love. It's so beautiful and delicate and almost naive. It's very emotional, yet has this stillness to it. I'm not really able to articulate it very well, but this song touches me everytime I listen to it.
Dude, I just made the connection that homing pigeons navigate using the earth's magnetic field and iron-bearing minerals in their heads--thus, "magnetized."
Between that and "olivine eyes" she sure knows how to melt a geology nerd's heart. Best song on the album.
As a geologist, I wholeheartedly concur. Excellent observation, by the way.
this song is amazing, its pure emotion and beauty and raw feelings. All her songs are like that but this on especially touches me deeply.
its also my top played song on itunes. :]
Stunning.
Ok, I am feeling like I may be seriously disturbed. In my mind, this song is about how sometimes we are drawn on "magnetized" to people who are bad for us. I picture that her love interest in this song is a serial killer who has drawn her into the woods. Slain her with his zirconium smile. Killed her and cast her into a shallow grave which is why she is "waiting for shovels to cast" her. The furnace that "burns everlasting" is getting rid of the body and is putting "black tatoos" all over her (i.e. burn marks). When she gets to the homing pigeon, I think she has transformed into a new state (maybe reincarnation) but she is still drawn. That's what I've always thought.
Things are peaceful now. The ground is starting to feel cold, but next to me you still feel warm.
I'm not sure why I'm here. I used to come here alone and imagine you were here with me, but now that you're really here all I can feel is that this is forever -- the cycle of pain, then apathy, then love cannot be broken; it is eternal; you are eternal. The best I can say is I have no reason to leave right now, and neither do you, so for a moment we are at peace.
Eternal things end too. You said that to me, once, you wished we could have an eternal moment, between the pain that we could hold on to. But we never could. I haven't seen you in 3 months. The memories are not eternal either, but right now I can still feel it, sitting next to you, white spider stars coming down.