Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse

This should clear some things up. An article from Seattle's "The Stranger":

The Stranger: Are you a stoner? I’m thinking of the song on your new album, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, about “the chemicals.”

Kevin: Yeah, that has nothing to do with drugs. That's the chemicals in your mind.

The Stranger: Serotonin?

Kevin: Yeah. I went through this chemical depression, and that's when I was writing a lot of the songs for Hissing Fauna. They're all songs about that experience. And I was experiencing it in the moment that I was writing the songs, and sort of asking myself: What the hell is going on? Why are you all of a sudden totally paranoid and plagued by these anxieties? And why is everything so distorted and confusing and fucked up? My lifestyle hadn't changed that much. And then I realized, well, there's something going on inside of me that I don't have control over, and then you realize how vulnerable you are to these things, these elements that you can't understand, or unless you go on medication and get it under control. It's like you're being betrayed by your body.

My mom flat out asked me what the hell this song was about, and I simply told her "Someone who is having a chemical imbalance and wants to be in a good mood, this their chemical imbalance shifting." It's kind of funny I should be able to sum it up in a few lines. It's such a deep song.

I feel like this is more about chemical imbalance than drugs, as he refers to the problem as mood shifts.

Kevin Barnes: Well actually, Pitchfork got that wrong when they were reviewing that song. It has nothing to do with illegal drugs. It’s a song about the chemicals in your brain, just like the natural chemicals and trying to balance them out and that sort of feeling that you’re not really in control of your emotions or of your outlook on things. A lot of times it can be totally warped by this imbalance…it’s almost like you’re being betrayed by your body or your mind. It’s kind of a song about, if you kind of step outside of yourself saying to the physical part of your body, like, “get it together man, you’re ruining your life” or “you’re ruining my life.” Or our life, whatever.

iN HIS OWN WORDS THIS SONG IS ABOUT DEPRESSION.... i LOVE THE KIND OF OXYMORON OF THE OVERLY HAPPY MUSIC AND THE UNBELIEVABLY SAD LYRICS..... BRILLIANT!!

I think it could be about drugs, but it's probably about depression (chemical imbalance). It's so inspecific that either is highly plausible.

In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a god that gave fire to the mortals. As punishment he spent the rest of eternity (I think?) bound to a rock, where an eagle would come everyday to eat his liver. At night it would grow back, so the eagle could eat it the next day.

So, I think the title implies that Kevin feels like he is stuck in an endless painful cycle. And he's in Norway.

to keep going on the mythological symbolism, from wiki: "Heimdall is the guardian of the gods who will blow the Gjallarhorn if danger approaches Asgard. His senses are so acute that he can hear the grass grow and he can see to the end of the world; he also requires no sleep at all. He is moreover the guardian of the Bifrost Bridge." the bifrost bridge being the one between asgard (land of the gods) and midgard (land of the mortals).

there is an easy connection between enhanced senses and using drugs as a source of inspiration, but i think this idea teams up nicely with lepidoptera3's thoughts on the prometheus reference. he is cursed because drugs had been an integral part of his artistic process, his way of carrying fire down from olympus. at the same time they are what halts it as well, distancing him from other sources of inspiration, such as his love for nina twin. then there is also the expense, both in terms of money and the effect on his brain and body.

just wanted to toss that in for people to think about.

Yeah, I do not think he is talking about drugs but rather natural chemical shifts that cause anger, or depression, etc. The type we have no real direct control over. All the more supported by the urgency in his "come on mood-shift, shift back to good again."

this song is about bipolar disorder

"and you hurt me when I'm feelin' good" should be "and it's just like you to hurt me when I'm feelin' good"

Favorite song. It's ridonkulous.