13. Nothing Is Real (3:52)

[wash]

I really loved the sound of this track(it is in fact one of my favorites) but judging by the lyrics, this seems to be anti-religious. That worries me, for I am a Christian.

i don't think i've ever laughed at anything so hard on this website before thank you
thank you forever

haha this is the way I used to think when I was about 10 or 11 and listening to Boards of Canada. I genuinely thought they were Satanists.

[Wonder Spunion]

Best song off the album imo. Makes me remember why I fell in love with the band in the first place.

Agree, up there with my favourites on the album. Has hints of 'Roygbiv' for me. Beautiful, catchy melody, gorgeous chord change at 54s - I suppose my only criticism is that it's slightly meandering, would maybe have liked the beat to fully kick in at some point. Having said that, I still love it as it is.

I think that chord change is deliberately that way. You think it should go one way and evolve on that sunny melody, but instead it slows down and turns slightly anxious.. At least that's how I see it.

[irv]

Best song off the album imo. Makes me remember why I fell in love with the band in the first place.

Agree, up there with my favourites on the album. Has hints of 'Roygbiv' for me. Beautiful, catchy melody, gorgeous chord change at 54s - I suppose my only criticism is that it's slightly meandering, would maybe have liked the beat to fully kick in at some point. Having said that, I still love it as it is.

I think that chord change is deliberately that way. You think it should go one way and evolve on that sunny melody, but instead it slows down and turns slightly anxious.. At least that's how I see it.

I think you've misunderstood me - I meant that I think the whole tune itself is a bit meandering, rather than the chord change (might have been better if I'd put a full stop (period) after '54s' instead of a dash!

[MindElevation]

This track drives me slightly insane by not developing further. It keeps getting to points where you think a full beat will kick in and the melody will progress but then reigns it back in. They've obviously designed it to do exactly that though. Leaves a slightly uneasy feeling despite its warmth.

[vermillionsnake]

Yeah, this was the track that 'emotionally wrecked' me while listening to the live stream. It affects me in the same way as compound eye, in other words, makes me long for something long gone past. The tears dripped, I just couldn't help it. How does this happen? It's my favourite at the moment although palace posy is really interesting.

[In_The_Annexe]

Yeah, this was the track that 'emotionally wrecked' me while listening to the live stream. It affects me in the same way as compound eye, in other words, makes me long for something long gone past. The tears dripped, I just couldn't help it. How does this happen? It's my favourite at the moment although palace posy is really interesting.

happened to me too..

Why does it happen? Because the music is so powerfully engaging and emotional that your body responds to these emotions and crying is a way of relieving a powerful emotion.

Usually when you cry from something that is powerful, it's because you truly feel the impact and a sort of heavy weight on yourself, this feeling can be overbearing and it makes your eyes watery and you cry.

[nickb523]

reminds me of this a lot - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m8qJbEY6lo

positive track...

[rainier]

Yeah, this was the track that 'emotionally wrecked' me while listening to the live stream. It affects me in the same way as compound eye, in other words, makes me long for something long gone past. The tears dripped, I just couldn't help it. How does this happen? It's my favourite at the moment although palace posy is really interesting.

yes it gives me the same feeling as TFTCE too, even though the songs are so different. It's a powerful feeling. It's the feeling I get when I pick up old photo albums and look through them. Sad happiness or happy sadness or something, but also kind of peaceful.

[monochrome]

I ran some simple noise filtering on the vocal section and sped it up to where it sounds a bit more clear.

https://soundcloud.com/sum-over-histories/nothing-is-real-vocals

Here's what I hear:

Jesus, was it you indeed
To flirt unkindly with my greed
Promising eternal life
When you knew it was not right
When you knew that what I'd need was willingness and the comfort there


The hardest part to be sure of for me is the "fault unkindly" line. As far as meaning, the quote seems to fit with the themes of impermanence and death. The speaker seems to believe that the promise of eternal life, while comforting, is not right. They may feel betrayed by their former belief system, that it chastised them for their greed while simultaneously taking advantage of it, by offering false promises. Errr, that is assuming I heard it right. Maybe half the words are wrong and it's just a weird sesame street sketch again.

EDIT: After listening to Techboy's isolation attempt, "fault" is clearly "flirt" (changed above). "Promising" may be "Promises" instead, but it is hard to tell one way or the other.

Last edited by monochrome on Mon Jun 10, 2013 1:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

[In_The_Annexe]

I ran some simple noise filtering on the vocal section and sped it up to where it sounds a bit more clear.

https://soundcloud.com/sum-over-histories/nothing-is-real-vocals

Here's what I hear:

Jesus, was it you indeed
To fault unkindly with my greed
Promising eternal life
When you knew it was not right
When you knew that what I'd need was willingness and the comfort there


The hardest part to be sure of for me is the "fault unkindly" line. As far as meaning, the quote seems to fit with the themes of impermanence and death. The speaker seems to believe that the promise of eternal life, while comforting, is not right. They may feel betrayed by their former belief system, that it chastised them for their greed while simultaneously taking advantage of it, by offering false promises. Errr, that is assuming I heard it right. Maybe half the words are wrong and it's just a weird sesame street sketch again.

This is a good analysis. I've been trying my best to make it out but that's pretty much what I got as well.

[PlatrixECV]

I ran some simple noise filtering on the vocal section and sped it up to where it sounds a bit more clear.

https://soundcloud.com/sum-over-histories/nothing-is-real-vocals

Here's what I hear:

Jesus, was it you indeed
To fault unkindly with my greed
Promising eternal life
When you knew it was not right
When you knew that what I'd need was willingness and the comfort there


The hardest part to be sure of for me is the "fault unkindly" line. As far as meaning, the quote seems to fit with the themes of impermanence and death. The speaker seems to believe that the promise of eternal life, while comforting, is not right. They may feel betrayed by their former belief system, that it chastised them for their greed while simultaneously taking advantage of it, by offering false promises. Errr, that is assuming I heard it right. Maybe half the words are wrong and it's just a weird sesame street sketch again.

So if the palindrome effect is to believe. Nothing is Real's companion track is Telepath which would make for some interesting comparison analysis to the vocal snippets in that one...

[vermillionsnake]

Monochrome, thank heavens for people like you who have the expertise in deciphering these vocoded voices. I LOVE people like you because I DON'T have the knowledge! I have been listening on a facebook link to the song because I haven't got the cd yet and it's all I have until Monday, but it has been driving me insane trying to make out the spoken words. Thankyou!

[Betacord]

I ran some simple noise filtering on the vocal section and sped it up to where it sounds a bit more clear.

https://soundcloud.com/sum-over-histories/nothing-is-real-vocals

Here's what I hear:

Jesus, was it you indeed
To fault unkindly with my greed
Promising eternal life
When you knew it was not right
When you knew that what I'd need was willingness and the comfort there


The hardest part to be sure of for me is the "fault unkindly" line. As far as meaning, the quote seems to fit with the themes of impermanence and death. The speaker seems to believe that the promise of eternal life, while comforting, is not right. They may feel betrayed by their former belief system, that it chastised them for their greed while simultaneously taking advantage of it, by offering false promises. Errr, that is assuming I heard it right. Maybe half the words are wrong and it's just a weird sesame street sketch again.

You put some serious work in there - I wouldn't too be surprised if that's pretty much on the money. The explanation absolutely fits in, as well. Good stuff!

[NuevasSemillas]

AMAZING SONG, my favourite from the album

[b0qurant]

This one's really sticking with me, damn. It's been stuck in my head on repeat for days.

[23degreesdream]

has anyone noticed at the very start in the build up you can hear a little hum of conversation and the crack of a cueball hitting the pack? reminiscent of Turquoise Hexagon Sun.

[Wonder Spunion]

Yeah, this was the track that 'emotionally wrecked' me while listening to the live stream. It affects me in the same way as compound eye, in other words, makes me long for something long gone past. The tears dripped, I just couldn't help it. How does this happen? It's my favourite at the moment although palace posy is really interesting.

[Techboy]

I ran some simple noise filtering on the vocal section and sped it up to where it sounds a bit more clear.

https://soundcloud.com/sum-over-histories/nothing-is-real-vocals

Here's what I hear:

Jesus, was it you indeed
To fault unkindly with my greed
Promising eternal life
When you knew it was not right
When you knew that what I'd need was willingness and the comfort there


The hardest part to be sure of for me is the "fault unkindly" line. As far as meaning, the quote seems to fit with the themes of impermanence and death. The speaker seems to believe that the promise of eternal life, while comforting, is not right. They may feel betrayed by their former belief system, that it chastised them for their greed while simultaneously taking advantage of it, by offering false promises. Errr, that is assuming I heard it right. Maybe half the words are wrong and it's just a weird sesame street sketch again.

You put some serious work in there - I wouldn't too be surprised if that's pretty much on the money. The explanation absolutely fits in, as well. Good stuff!

Here is a more serious effort to isolate the vocals: http://sequoia.ax.lt/nothing-is-real.mp3
I feel that it's been cut up a bit, but I hear this:

Jesus, [an echo, layered other word?] was it new indeed
To flirt unkindly with my greed
Promises; eternal [another echo] afterlife (????)
When you knew it was not [layered vocal under this word?] right
When you knew that what I'd need was the willingness and the [heartbreaking]comfort there?[/heartbreaking]

If it does infact say "new" then I take it to be about a man who was once religious, but begins to challenge the basis of those beliefs, and becomes aware of certain uncomfortable facts that he had never considered before; that those promises of an eternal afterlife are designed to "flirt with [his] greed" in order to empower some other earthly cause. It seems that it is the sort of doubt that one may cast on their religion in a time when they have turned to it in fear or in anticipation, and now he is worrying about his so-called eternal life just when he thinks he needs it.

[Zazen]

Last night on a plane I listened to this track while dozing, in a sort of sleepy half-dream state. I must say, it was even better than being high.

[Keeoaddi]

The hardest part to be sure of for me is the "fault unkindly" line.

i found the same thing, the other lines seem to fit together and make much more sense as a short poem or extract of a verse of something.

i thought perhaps it could be 'to flirt unkindly with my greed', as if Jesus had tempted the speaker unfairly, but that word is hard to make out.