Exorcize

As posted by Frank Spinath at seabound.de:

"Slow motion movement..." The first three words characterize the setting and the basic emotional tone of the song: Movements are delayed, sluggish and heavy. Still the scene is imbued with "clarity". It is sunny and clear, but cold. The picture that springs into my mind when I think of this track is a rugged coast, plain ground, and brightness. Day and night merge, and the stars- which I would always prefer to the sun with regard to beauty - are covered by thick layers of ice. This is the first omen that this story will not have a happy ending...

The title "Avalost" reflects a combination of the word "lost" and the name of the peninsula "Avalon" in Newfoundland. Initially, the track was even titled "New Found Land"; which I considered to be a nice album title for a while until we decided to go for "No Sleep Demon" instead.

The narrator has arrived at the coast after a long nightly journey, and he is watching the icebergs moving by. The scene is determined by the sublimity of those gigantic ice formations and by quietness. At the same time the claritiy of the ice evokes painful memories.

What is the narrator doing in this place?

Here's where "Avalost" becomes a modern version of Edgar A. Poe's "The Raven". In this poem Poe describes, how a melancholic young man, who has lost the woman of his dreams, is visited one evening by a raven who alights in his chamber uttering just one sound that gives the impression as if the raven said "Nevermore". The young man is tempted to consider the raven to be some kind of prophet and begins to ask questions which the raven always answers in the same way. A fatal inclination forces the narrator in Poe's poem deeper and deeper into a spiral of self-destructive questions, until he finally asks the raven "Will I see my beloved ever again?" The raven answers "Nevermore", and the narrator breaks down.

I have always been moved by movie scenes in which two main characters who have been separated for a long and painful time, independently decide to visit a meaningful place, hoping that they might find their "lost love" there. Movies like "Indecent Proposal" or "Great Expectations" include scenes of this kind. However, it is my opinion that this would never work in reality. This disillusioning understanding became another central motive in "Avalost". That's why I have the narrator travel to New Found Land, to search for the love of his life and not find her. The agonizing part of it - and this is the real parallel to Poe's Raven - is that the narrator knows what is going to happen... He knows, that she will not be there, because he isn't naive enough to hope that she will leave for New Found Land at the same time. Thus, he remains alone in this place, where the memory of the time when they were together returns so painfully.

The second verse is a flashback and informs the listener of the special relation between the lovers that once existed: The magic bond, the desire at their first encounters which were so full of erotic tension that the two of them could hardly stand it. All these memories return in slow motion sealing his wish to die. She won't come, this is not a movie. Reality is ice. Clarity is physical pain, but naivity is defeated. This man will be gone, and the icebergs will sing before they fade away themselves.