I'm not 100% sure of what I'm stating here, but I'd say that "Digital Witness" is all about the hyper-socialized society in which we live, especially regarding internet social networks. We have this constant need of glorifying ourselves by saying that we do such and such, and waiting for the approval of our peers (i.e. "our friends" on these social networks), which leaves us with virtually no proper personality.
I think the video for the song is pretty enlightening regarding this reading of the song, since people are shown doing useless things all in the same way: there are people walking on empty streets with a very military-based rhythm, people rolling what seems to be a piece of chalk on a notebook in the exact same way, etc etc. Moreover the places in the video are pretty "sterile," with their pale colours and very few variations, giving this idea of a waste land, in a way.
Going through the lyrics, I think the first stanza defines the kind of superior power that the digital era embodies: it tells us to "get back to [our] seats," leaving us powerless if we agree with it, because it wants "all of [our] minds," symbolizing very clearly the brainwash that it produces in us.
The part that sounds like a chorus is also very important for my interpretation of the song, given that it states this necessity of being watched and approved. "What's the point of even sleeping?" the narrator asks, since if s/he "can't show it, you [we?] can't see it." It goes to a sort of climax, describing how people go far beyond their limits in order to be noticed by society, with this image of someone "jump[ing] right off the London Bridge," which is way too dangerous but seems like a very casual thing as stated here.
Finally, the very last line is very important, with the narrator shouting out "Won't somebody sell me back to me?" Now that we've sold ourselves to society and become something generic, who is going to help us get our former, truer self?
I'm not 100% sure of what I'm stating here, but I'd say that "Digital Witness" is all about the hyper-socialized society in which we live, especially regarding internet social networks. We have this constant need of glorifying ourselves by saying that we do such and such, and waiting for the approval of our peers (i.e. "our friends" on these social networks), which leaves us with virtually no proper personality.
I think the video for the song is pretty enlightening regarding this reading of the song, since people are shown doing useless things all in the same way: there are people walking on empty streets with a very military-based rhythm, people rolling what seems to be a piece of chalk on a notebook in the exact same way, etc etc. Moreover the places in the video are pretty "sterile," with their pale colours and very few variations, giving this idea of a waste land, in a way.
Going through the lyrics, I think the first stanza defines the kind of superior power that the digital era embodies: it tells us to "get back to [our] seats," leaving us powerless if we agree with it, because it wants "all of [our] minds," symbolizing very clearly the brainwash that it produces in us.
The part that sounds like a chorus is also very important for my interpretation of the song, given that it states this necessity of being watched and approved. "What's the point of even sleeping?" the narrator asks, since if s/he "can't show it, you [we?] can't see it." It goes to a sort of climax, describing how people go far beyond their limits in order to be noticed by society, with this image of someone "jump[ing] right off the London Bridge," which is way too dangerous but seems like a very casual thing as stated here.
Finally, the very last line is very important, with the narrator shouting out "Won't somebody sell me back to me?" Now that we've sold ourselves to society and become something generic, who is going to help us get our former, truer self?