Niek Pullens

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First LightHozier The perfect ending track for this album. It concludes the journey of the main theme by coming out to the “first light” above, but besides that it has a more emotional value for me. This song is melodically complex and interesting at every line. It has a very good buildup that’s fitting for the lyrics. “A Voice your body jumps to callin’ out your name” This originally reminded me of the feeling you have when your partner is calling out to you and you’re physically responding with a feeling of happiness, but further lines in the song draw out another feeling. “And I am never going back again” With that I’d question my first conception and think more of it like the writer is talking about a lost partner and an unhealthy relationship, which you sometimes get reminded of. This line tells me that the writer is sure of not coming back to that partner and has emotionally processed the ending of the relationship.
Unknown / NthHozier A poetic and harmonious track towards the end of the album. One of my favorite songs of all time because of the beautifully arranged instruments that blend smoothly with Hozier’s Soft Vocals. This song is about the difficult parts of a breakup. It tells you it’s okay to not feel resentful and to have looked over things in the relationship because you felt deeply for that person. Its about letting go and accepting. The Nth in the title likely stands for the ninth circle of hell Dante Alighieri's Inferno, which has themes of betrayal and confinement in the book. “Ignored the vastness between all that can be seen” A lyric that’s written specifically to bring attention to how obvious things can be overlooked while loving a person. “And there are some people love who are better unknown” This song in its entirety repeats the same motive that the hardest part of getting out of a relationship is the “being unknown”. The last line of the song wrap’s that up neatly by telling you that sometimes it’s fine to let go of someone and it’s okay to be unknown.
Life In The DarkPhoebe Bridgers A very fitting cover by Phoebe with lyrics that beautifully expose feelings of grief and paranoia. I think she’s perfect for this song because Phoebe has a way of connecting everyday, relatable moments to some heavy topics in such a soft and touching way. “We laugh, and we cry We fall in love, and we die But we don’t know when We don’t know why” This envokes the feelings in me that she’s singing about someone she’s lost while reminiscing about the past, although looking at another perspective of this lyric gives me the melancholic feeling that all these emotions come with time, so live life to the fullest, because we’re here for only so long. “I’ve often thought, Tonight we’re bound to be caught” You can think of this lyric as paranoia of someone catching up to you, but I don’t see it that way. This conveys for me that she’s having the feeling of being unable to stand still because time keeps moving forward. Rather than literally, the paranoia comes from being “caught” by time.