02. Reach For The Dead (4:47)

[Negamuse]

That's BoC in general though innit. When you realise you've listened to 4 albums back to back just listening to the hi-hats.

[Decorah]

This track is just bonkers good. I still get chills listening to it, particularly at around 3:48. And especially the flute that comes in at 3:56, it makes the hair on my arms stand up. 2 years later and it still has this effect.

The whole album is an absolute treasure, from concept to art to the tunes themselves.

[Zentai]

I think I understand the video better now.

Sky is a reflecting off sheet ice.


Sundogs
A sundog, also known as sun dog, mock sun or parhelion, consists of glowing spots around the sun. They are created by sunlight refracting off plate shaped ice crystals in the cirrus clouds. Sundogs are some of the most frequently observed optical phenomena and can be observed throughout the year and anywhere in the world. They are also associated with 22 degree halos.

[gfxtwin]

I don't even know where to begin interpreting the meaning of this track. All I know is it gives me chills every time I hear it.

[green calx]

imagine desolated area, destroyed after nuclear activity, empty houses, lack of evidence of life in the sight, and something appearing on the horizon, rushing through those ghost villages, cutting radioactive fumes, yes, these are tanks and other heavy vehicles whose GET RIGHT INTO THE CENTRE OF THE ACTION BANG BANG BANG CRASH KABOOM RATATATATA

You can actually hear machine gun's reload and blasting bombs.

Reach in this sense means vengeance. How do you guys understand this title anyway?

[ShaneAnthony]

Long time looker here! Usually, I enjoy reading more than writing, but I'd like to share my understanding of the theme in Reach for the Dead (and partially of the whole album).

A few facts about the clip:
- "[brothers] did not want any people in it and that we [Neil Krug, David Myrick and Colin Stoye] needed to create a vibe that felt both abandoned and post-apocalyptic" (from here).
- The clip shows an abandoned gas station in Yermo, California.
- The clip features other abandoned buildings and homes ("God Bless Out Home") and deserts (don't know if all of them are also in California).

More facts:
- Listening party was held at abandoned Lake Dolores Waterpark, Newberry Springs, Southern California.
- Marcus said that "if you look again at the San Francisco [which is in California] skyline on the cover it's actually a ghost of the city. You're looking straight through it."

A few (my subjective) observations in the song:
- From the beginning, to ~3:45, "noisy" sound is rhythmically repeated. This is a sound of a falling seeds.
- From about ~3:30 starts a piece that sound like water drops filling up a vessel.

Known by relatively few outside US, "California facing one of the most severe droughts on record". Some believe that "20th century may have been a wet anomaly", meaning that people leaving there just got lucky in term of habitable climate.

I think that the message of Reach for the Dead is that long-term drought of California is coming back. As of today, it's not clear how things will unveil, but my guess is that if drought intensifies, either the water must be supplied from outside of the state, or the people would have to move out from (most of) California, hence the message of the song.

Note that this was not a well known issue back in May of 2013, so, if my guess is correct, the brothers are really ahead of the time. I wonder what books (scientific publications?) they've read.

I think you nailed it man. The beginning of the TH movie also fits in perfect.

[gfxtwin]

Just watched the video again and it got me thinking about it more. Something really unsettling about it and to a lesser extent the track. In my state (and also California from what I hear) there are supposedly lots of creeps, methheads and "religious communities" that live out in supposed middle-of-nowhere ghost towns, possibly like those shown in the RFTD video.

You also hear a lot about those types of environments being places that lost/exiled people are almost spiritually drawn to for the purpose of dying, kinda like that movie Into the Wild but a bit darker. Wonder if the song is on some level a tribute to or an acknowledgement of them and the video is about showing some of the last things they might have seen while alive? Maybe "Reach for the dead" is about their plight, that of being a human who for whatever reason feels unwanted and drawn towards death and/or places that were once lively but are now...gone? And that last scene (the one showing the psychedelic landscape) is maybe an interpretation of...what they see next? Whatever the meaning, it's always an eerie yet beautiful track IMO.

[AlexP]

Here is an explanatory video (mixture of other videos, mostly news stories) about the drought in California, focusing of farming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_bqPVU0LWM

The video was made in the beginning of 2014. Some quotes:
- "We are in year 3 of a drought that we don't know how long it's gonna last" [at 1:04].
- "Dry conditions have become extreme across >62% of California's land area" [at 3:42].
- "Much of California will look like a desert without some heavy-duty plumbing" [at 10:02].

[AlexP]

(Cannot edit my previous post, so here is an addition)

By the way, there are plenty of other reports about the drought, focusing on affects on agricultural industry in that state. For example:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4c3SgqumwY
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmUwjk4S3gw

[ShaneAnthony]

Hoping someone that lives out that way can shed more light. I always prefer to hear from locals vs reading news stories. Good call bringing it up here though. I tried to spark this theory in the playground out of all places. Been known to act a fool here. Mexi if you read this, I love you. You are right about that quote, and sorry all...I just really like BoC... *little cross reference thread trick to keep out of trouble.

So what was I saying? Oh yea, Cali folks, speak up please.

[Mexicola]

Lol. We love you all!!

[herxagernsurn]

I just moved to Seattle, Washington, from the San Francisco Bay, California, back in February and it was partially because of the apocalyptic vibe of the drought bumming me out. Its also way too expensive to live there...maybe not for long if everyone has to leave to find water! Last year I tried to water my garden very sparingly because of the drought and it ended up being a really shitty garden. I would not have grown a garden this year if I stayed there. Cattle farmers recently has to sloughter hundreds of thousands of animals because there will be no water for them to drink this summer or they had to move them out of state to where there is at least little more water although Nevada is not doing so well either. I think Texas is experiencing drought too and that's where a lot of cattle have been moved to. Oil companies are still allowed to use unbelievable amounts of water for fracking in the state still. It basically means injecting water into the ground with a bunch of nasty chemicals in order to bring oil and natural gas up to the surface. Some of the big money crops in California like almonds have not been hit with any water restrictions either. Almonds use something like a gallon of water per almond. Desalinization is energy intensive and will likely not be able to meet the state's needs unless they could use solar energy to do it. A desalinization plant opened in Carlsbad recently down near San Diego. Its a bad scene. There are already people moving to the NW of the USA in droves and more drought will just accelerate this. Yuck!

Las Vegas is apparently in a much worse situation and could run out of water much sooner than California. Think about that. Its going to be crazy. Can you imagine what an abandoned Las Vegas would look like. Its going to make for some REALLY amazing BoC videos I can tell you that.

[Mexicola]

An abandoned Las Vegas? Fallout anyone..? What a game.

[gfxtwin]

Listening to Fallout 3 or F3NV + TH seems like a formula for lots of awesomeness

[Negamuse]

Went to the US in my teens and one place we hit was Death Valley which was unbelievably hot and arid. Passed a convoy of new cars being destruct tested for the hot environment as the manufacturers regularly do.

And yet in the middle of this fucking desert is (was) a kilometre square of lush green grass with a golf course on it. Someone has enough resources to artificially irrigate a place for people to enjoy a round as if they werent surrounded on all sides by an unbroken parched expanse. And I thought then 'if we do nothing to turn it back, this is the future of earth right here'.

[Mexicola]

The golf course is still there too....

[Negamuse]

Crazy. The masses struggle in the dust, the few pretend its none of it happening and play golf.

[Aerial Boundaries]

Crazy. The masses struggle in the dust, the few pretend its none of it happening and play golf.

*sigh*

My generation has got their work cut out for them...

[Group Hex]

Having grown up in and around Southern California Deserts, I've grown to absolutely love them. I still find myself driving far, far into the middle of nowhere. I used to be almost always able to find a small bar or convenience store to have a cold beer, even in the most desolate areas of the desert landscapes. Sadly, these days some of my favorite towns and areas are no more. Just outright abandoned, left to the elements. I still visit, I still drive without a particular destination (always carry extra fuel and water - trust me), and I still find solace and creepy adventure waiting for me in these desert lands. But the drought is all too real, all too frightening, and much too menacing.

TH, and "Reach For The Dead" particularly, just reek of the feeling you get when you step out of your car on a scorching summer day in the desert. No sound but the wind, strange structures in the distance, empty roadside restaurants, etc. I was completely thrilled when I saw the video for the track, and almost immediately recognized the landscape, the plant life, the dust. Even more so when I attended the Lake Delores event, and found myself in the company of similar minded fans of BOC. Here I was in an environment that I have always associated with their music, in an area where I myself had pulled over countless times and blasted music (more often than not BOC) with the doors open wide while surveying the incredible yet desolate landscape. That day goes down in my books as one of the most (as cheesy as it is to say) sacred musical experiences of my life thus far.

Anyhoo.........the drought. It's devestating. All of us here are doing what we can. Even my 8 year old daughter calls me out if she sees me running the water unnecessarily. It's as real to her as it is to me.

But I'll never leave this area. I'll always need to live near the California deserts. Always.

[Group Hex]

Also, I have just begun work on replacing almost a thousand square feet of lawn with hardscape and drought tolerant plants. Local water companies offer rebates for every square foot of lawn you remove and replace with more drought responsible options. I'm ashamed it took this long to do this. But in the end you get a much more intresting patch of landscaping, and actually get it all paid for. In my case, I'll actually pocket some of the rebate as well. The scary thing is that as the population sky rockets in my desert adjacent suburb, new homes seem to still be landscaped with green grass and water sucking tree varieties. I'm hoping that either an ordinance is passed, or some sort of subsidy is offered to these developers to use drought tolerant landscaping. It makes ZERO sense to keep using so much water!!!!! Ugh.