Word: life
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Reading pulls us away from an environment flooded with constant activity. It forces us to cast aside everything else and give undivided attention to a book for a sustained period of time. The contrast between the calm of the printed page and the frenetic pace of contemporary life is greater today than for any previous generation. Technology intensifies the interior world of self-reflection found by reading literature because it is so different than the rest of our lives. Paradoxically, the current technological age heightens the particular power of literature—making books truly indispensable to our generation...
...which the song is written and Smith’s monotone do not give a sense of eventual thawing and renewal. The track that follows, “Winter Dies,” continues this pattern. Smith sings that “Winter dies / The Earth is brought to life,” but this hopeful message is not reflected in the song’s harmonic structure. Midlake might have been able to craft a sense of expectancy and dormant growth by deftly manipulating harmony and melody, but instead they create it using not-so-subtle lyrics...
...that we’re older, there’s more that we must do,” claims the chorus of “Slush,” the sixth track of Hot Chip’s eagerly anticipated new album, “One Life Stand.” These lyrics may well have been the mantra guiding the album’s creation, because with their fourth studio record, the British electropop group’s ability to integrate seemingly incongruous elements into a single fluid masterpiece has finally come to full fruition...
...Life Stand,” Hot Chip debuts a newly stripped-down aesthetic that effortlessly combines soulful ballads with synth effects and electronic distortion, juxtaposing simple, romantic lyrics with dance beats that wouldn’t disappoint a fist-pumping Jersey Shore guido. Where previous tracks incorporated gimmicks like the jarringly self-referential lyrics on “The Warning” or the inexplicable two minutes of grating synth noises on “Shake a Fist,” the tracks on “One Life Stand” replace them with a new, fully developed sound...
...this new sound. Taylor’s vocals masterfully intertwine with the electronic beats and synth effects, rising to a quasi-falsetto on the chorus as he sets the album’s romantic mood with an endearing pun: “I only want to be your one life stand / Tell me do you stand by your whole man?” Vocals are given similar emphasis throughout the album’s slower tracks, including the beautiful “Slush,” which transfixes with its contemplative simplicity as Taylor’s singing weaves...