I can't think of any song that disturbs me more than this one. A lot of it is how generally sparse the band makes the soundscape (common throughout this album, but especially on this track), with such large gaps between the repeating bass notes. Of course, this makes the other sonic elements stand out, and those sampled screams and wailing guitar fragments are certainly disconcerting, but it really is Genesis' vocal performance and lyrics that make the song.
The casual tone, the softness that sometimes approaches a whisper, the constant "you"s - everything becomes so intimate that it's easy to be...taken in, manipulated, persuaded by his words, but never enough that we like it. It always maintains that proper tension, simultaneously producing a picture of a situation both uncanny and frightening as well as almost everyday. We all feel like victims here, listening to these words amidst this creeping music - I'd presume.
And so it's imminently relatable.
And we just have to hope that, even in some small way, we aren't behaving like Genesis' narrator.
I can't think of any song that disturbs me more than this one. A lot of it is how generally sparse the band makes the soundscape (common throughout this album, but especially on this track), with such large gaps between the repeating bass notes. Of course, this makes the other sonic elements stand out, and those sampled screams and wailing guitar fragments are certainly disconcerting, but it really is Genesis' vocal performance and lyrics that make the song.
The casual tone, the softness that sometimes approaches a whisper, the constant "you"s - everything becomes so intimate that it's easy to be...taken in, manipulated, persuaded by his words, but never enough that we like it. It always maintains that proper tension, simultaneously producing a picture of a situation both uncanny and frightening as well as almost everyday. We all feel like victims here, listening to these words amidst this creeping music - I'd presume.
And so it's imminently relatable.
And we just have to hope that, even in some small way, we aren't behaving like Genesis' narrator.