This is perhaps the most poetic and lyically imaginative Idlewild song I've ever heard. And even more importantly, it marks a significant shift in the metaphysical and methodological thought of the band, which they provide hints to throughout Warnings/Promises before finally laying their souls bare. A mainstay phrase of the album is the ancient adage "Everything is always changing," which is also known for its contemporary post-modern usage.
What makes this song so significant is its contrast to the band's previous work "These Wooden Ideas," which served as a lambaste for post-modern ideals and only added to the band's sophomore album. masterpiece. If Roddy's listeners wondered whether Warnings/Promises truly marked a departure from his previous work, The Space Between All Things leaves no doubt, with lines like "Words turn me into what I say," and "Your thoughts are the strangest place that you've ever been... It's like a cinema where they never ask you to leave." These lines are so beautiful and brilliant that even the most staunch metaphysical realist can't help but want to know where Roddy is coming from, and want to follow him there.
But the name of the song gives it all away, when Roddy realizes the absolute incomprehensibility in seeing reality as something with both an infinite number of relations and a finite number of objects. How is it possible that in the space between all things, there is everything and nothing? "It fascinates as much it agitates."
Finally, Roddy begins to notice that his new girl's attempts to fight fate are futile and useless, just as his own are. He realizes that no matter how hard one concentrates, no matter how hard one thinks, and exercises their apparent free will, it remains (like perhaps everything else) a complete illusion.
This is perhaps the most poetic and lyically imaginative Idlewild song I've ever heard. And even more importantly, it marks a significant shift in the metaphysical and methodological thought of the band, which they provide hints to throughout Warnings/Promises before finally laying their souls bare. A mainstay phrase of the album is the ancient adage "Everything is always changing," which is also known for its contemporary post-modern usage.
What makes this song so significant is its contrast to the band's previous work "These Wooden Ideas," which served as a lambaste for post-modern ideals and only added to the band's sophomore album. masterpiece. If Roddy's listeners wondered whether Warnings/Promises truly marked a departure from his previous work, The Space Between All Things leaves no doubt, with lines like "Words turn me into what I say," and "Your thoughts are the strangest place that you've ever been... It's like a cinema where they never ask you to leave." These lines are so beautiful and brilliant that even the most staunch metaphysical realist can't help but want to know where Roddy is coming from, and want to follow him there.
But the name of the song gives it all away, when Roddy realizes the absolute incomprehensibility in seeing reality as something with both an infinite number of relations and a finite number of objects. How is it possible that in the space between all things, there is everything and nothing? "It fascinates as much it agitates."
Finally, Roddy begins to notice that his new girl's attempts to fight fate are futile and useless, just as his own are. He realizes that no matter how hard one concentrates, no matter how hard one thinks, and exercises their apparent free will, it remains (like perhaps everything else) a complete illusion.
What a brilliant song.