Didn't intend to be so Sheryl Crow, but it is what it is.
In Universe: The aliens have taken over. A few survivors subsist underground on what they can gather, but life is hard. The aliens need an environment light in phosphorus and rich in arsenic, so they’re glerraforming the Earth to match. Every month it gets more difficult for a human to survive on Earth, and the future is bleak. Babies are born, but not into a welcoming world.
Out of Universe: Yeah, bringing a child into a world of climate change.
There were places I compromised on writing a song that means two different things. Like “save us from the decades”. That’s all real-world, as I envision just a few years since the invasion, not decades. The Nietzschesque “gaze at the abyss” is in-universe, as foreshadowing of the human emigrants ultimately becoming the monster they gaze on a new colony planet that turns out to have an extant, sapient species.
I think my favorite part is interacting with the audience trying to process this being sung to a newborn. “The world we knew”? “Reminisce”? Those concepts would be meaningless to a baby who knows no world yet and has nothing to reminisce about, making their future that much more tragic absent a way to escape mentally. Same with the tongue-in-cheek "far too wise".
But also, I enjoyed imagining the in-universe setting and only including instruments that are small enough to be carried around. A parlor-sized folk guitar, tambourine, conga, harmonica can all be taken with them if they need to evacuate, and they can ultimately be brought aboard the ship when the humans steal it from the aliens and leave.
lyrics
Welcome. There’s so much work to do.
9 months, we’ve been waiting here for you.
Surprise! Here’s some debt to go into.
Save us from the decades that we spanned.
No time like now to understand
The parts the sum is greater than.
The day you wake up to this whole gestalt, you’d never ask for this.
It’s tragic and of course it’s no one’s fault, except of course it is.
The world we knew is coming to a halt. Lie back and reminisce.
Sorry, apologies in advance.
Your job is braving the expanse.
Say “thank you” for your inheritance.
Dream on, and wish the truth away.
That game you’re far too wise to play.
Not like you’re just born yesterday.
The day you wake up to this whole gestalt, you’d never ask for this.
It’s tragic and of course it’s no one’s fault, except of course it is.
The world out there is coming to a halt. Come gaze at the abyss.
Melvins fans will flip for this lost ’90s indie classic, with its sludgy guitars, hypnotic rhythms and irresistible hooks. Essential. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 13, 2020
Alex Henry Foster again collaborates with Canadian-Japanese artist Momoka, who also translates the lyrics from English to Japanese. Bandcamp New & Notable May 7, 2024
Smooth, sophisticated pop with neoclassical flourishes from the Berlin-based duo of Fabian Till and Birk Buttcherey. Bandcamp New & Notable May 2, 2024
