Dance of the Clairvoyants

The song title is reminiscent of a shamanic ceremony accompanying a life transition. Generally, the lyrics convey a sense that opportunity is fading, that we’ve lost, or are losing, what we once perceived as stability and have become confused, having lost purpose and meaning. Because of our confusion, we are restless. We are at a cultural crossroads of choosing fear or love, regressing under the lull of temporary comfort or growing in the fire of cultural catalysis. We are looking for easy answers and coming up empty. We are a culture under reckoning.

Society is under such commotion that we are desperate to feel any sense of control, and we are stuck in a sort of fear-anxiety feedback loop whereby we feel the reigns of reality being tugged away by an undercurrent of existential dread.

The narrator is acknowledging a sort of Machiavellian egotism fanned by the flames of the “temporarily-embarrassed” rich man. A man so caught up in potential glorification that he ignores those needing help. The narrator is picking himself up after taking stock of his unfortunate situation. He is describing acknowledging his negative circumstances as positive because that acknowledgment is the first step toward finding a remedy.

The narrator is criticizing perfectionism because perfectionism has failed. “One day” is here, and we find ourselves looking around realizing our failures as humans, our failure to love and recognize ourselves in others. Our collective humanity is slipping away, and we have nothing to show for it. We are looking for meaning in supernatural phenomena because 2020 feels like a dark time of transition. It feels as if we are at a cultural dead end and that the only way out is full-scale re-enchantment. A clairvoyant is one who possesses otherworldly knowledge or abilities. The narrator is looking for something new and fresh and without the baggage of the day-to-day grind, reminiscent of Chris Cornell when he finds freedom in what “doesn’t remind” him of anything.

The narrator also acknowledges the sacred feminine. Women can sometimes have a knack for making the best of their situations, whereas men may sometimes be more confrontational and barbaric. We find many expressions of dancing away circumstance today: addiction, denial, seeking.

We are warned to “stand back when the spirit comes.” This indicates that the spirit has left, or at least we have become estranged to the vivifying force of spirit. Spirit is also traditionally represented as a feminine force. “Stand back when the spirit comes” implies that we have lost our way. We are devaluing the human experience by constantly commodifying it. We are looking for ways to monetize what was once a passion, and we are left passionless. This is reminiscent of St. Vincent asking “what’s the point of even sleeping? If I can’t show it, if you can’t see me.” We have become locked inside mazes of our own design and of our own desire. Stand back when the spirit comes.