Song o The Week: New Model Army – “Vanity”
I know, I know. I’ve badgered you about the awesomeness of New Model Army at least twice before, but really…this had to be done. So there.
They cruise through this song with such good melodies, such a strong chorus, and such a good concept (any attempt to find reason in the chaos of the world is basically pointless) that I enjoyed in the first place. But the moment that sends them careening into Song o the Week territory comes at the 2:14 mark. We’re set up for it in the bridge:
Remember how it was out at Bunglass
We climbed up to the peak and stood against the rocks
The photographs came – you couldn’t see us
We were lost against the mountains like specks of dust
At the 2:14 mark, the song comes to a screeching halt, leaving only vocals and a weird keyboard part that somehow perfectly conveys the sound of being waaay up high on a cliff somewhere, listening to the sound of birds bounce off a deep canyon. It’s the sound of being completely metaphorically out at sea, realizing one’s own crushing smallness:
I’ve been to that place a thousand times
Looked over the edge so many times
Wanted to jump a thousand times
And that, friends and neighbors, is how you spell gestalt.
