#Marianas trench though

[ashanimus]

I have a week off of work because I am a snotty invalid coughing up my guts, so today is a great day to watch rescue bots and wait what the fuck how is the theme song sung by Marianas fucking trench are you kidding me?

[catt-crossing]

marianas trench new song and it's seven minutes long like HELLO?

[playablekairi]

only this, only this is gonna be the death of me

[greetingsfromuranus]

Man nobody told me the comedown from a manic episode lasts like a year

Makes sense now I guess lmao

[wormsontoast]

i dont get why soulmates has to have romantic connotations.

to my knowledge there's five meanings for mate and thats: a) the scientific one, where animals partner up generally for the purpose of having lots of babies, b) the british/australian one, which is just a synonym for friend, c) the nautical one, which i cant really define but its a rank on a ship d) the one at the end of roommate or cellmate, which is just sharing something e) the chess one, which i think is exactly the same as checkmate or i have check and mate mixed up and its where you could get their king but they still can escape.

so the possible meanings are as follows: our souls are having sex, our souls are friends :), my soul would be subordinate to yours if we were on a soul pirate ship, we share a soul, and my soul could easily kill yours

none of those are inherently romantic!

[catty-words]

now that i’ve spent a year with it and any given song off the album can still replenish my joie de vivre at the drop of a beat,

a non-exhaustive list of things i love about ever after (2011):

- themes!!! and! motifs!!! and how it’s about yearning for a simpler time all while knowing that you can never truly return and how the more often you try to go back to that simple time, it corrupts a little bit about what was good in the first place but also about how letting go of the innocence and hope you feel the pull toward would be just as unpalatable.

- vitally important to my listening experience is how these themes and motifs are grounded in music that captures an essence of the popular music scene from my high school years i’m not musically knowledgeable enough to describe in any concrete terms but absolutely, absolutely pings nostalgic to my ear without really having to try

- how josh ramsay et. al. were absolutely, honest-to-god trying

+ disclaimer before we really dive in: i know there’s an official story for this universe, an established canon, but i long ago decided that i get a rich enough story simply listening to the music. so though my interpretation may be wildly inaccurate, no it isn’t. :*

“ever after”:

- one of the joie de vivre restorers, the og, my everything

- how about the way my being in love with the intro ah-ah-ahh-ing from day one unlocked my appreciation for porcelain the character? no more than two days ago, i realized the ahhs were her leitmotif and had to sit with the implications of how that ties the whole album together, how it makes porcelain’s sweetness accessible to us in a way it never was to me when i only had the unreliable narration’s take on her, when i didn’t realize she had a voice of her own in the piece

- directly related, how i’m finding new stuff to lose my complete and utter shit about over a listen-heavy year later

- the way the opening lyrics successfully and instantly sweep me off my feet (and how captivating prologues are a hallmark of the band’s work, both in the writing and the performances)

- i mean, once upon a time / i used to romanticize / used to be somebody, nevermind / i don’t miss it that much now. i get chills every single goddamn time.

- the way our main character, the jaded mr. used to romanticize, is in conversation with a younger and idealistic version of himself in a way that makes me feel like porcelain is the younger version of carolina. the music ebbs and flows from the idealistic strings to the jaded, gritty guitar as the narrator once again gets pulled into his own yearning for the ever after he can never completely capture or hold onto.

- the way the second verse

functions as a call to action. sonically, too, i am rising to my feet, bloodied and ready to fight again. we are going back into the fantastical world of ever after, it was only a matter of time.

- don’t you move / can’t you stay where you are, just for now functioning as the tagline for the narrator’s self-destructive urge to cling to the simplicity of the past to the detriment of his present while also going so fucking hard should be illegal

- WHEN THE TOY SOLDIERS HIT (nobody told ya this was gonna fold ya!!!!)

- to have and hold ya, oversold ya being the first critical lyric in the case i’m building that the toy soldiers are the embodiment of our narrator’s aforementioned tendency toward self-destruction and self-loathing

- just. the build of the whole song. it’s gorgeous and it slaps, what more is there to say?

- the outro/transition into “haven’t had enough” can get it

“haven’t had enough”:

- the 8-bit sound of it and how the music somehow extremely effectively evokes playing an arcade game

- the criminally catchy hook and how this is another song that makes me at least thirty percent brighter no matter what emotional state i’m in when it starts playing. BOP O’CLOCK.

- the full circle of the song (testing, testing, i’m just suggesting / you and i might not be the best thing to testing, testing i’m just suggesting / you and i might just be the best thing) lending itself to the song’s place in the broader narrative. they’ve done this before, the narrator and ever after. in fact, they’ve been stuck now, so long / just got the start wrong. and it’s the hope that maybe things will work out this time that keeps mr. used to romanticize reliving his time in ever after over and over again (one more, last try / imma get the ending right). the arcade game is eating you alive but you’re actually pretty okay with the brightness consuming you. are you not?

- (i would inject this song directly in my veins, so yeah. you’ve got me, mr. romanticize, go on and insist / that [i] haven’t had enough.)

- that guitar (?) lick that comes in halfway through the chorus to revitalize it?? has me so completely by the throat i am a sleeper agent and that lick is my fucking trigger i am not responsible for what i do when it sets me off

- the don’t you need it?s and don’t you want it?s feeling like as much of a question for himself as for ever after/carolina/porcelain. is the cycle worth it? should we really be putting ourselves through this one more time?

- you know the moment in the chorus following the bridge, where it’s like one more, last try / imma get the ending - / YOUUUUUU? yeah, i like that a normal amount.

“by now”:

- i tend to think of this song as the official start to the story we’re meant to retread and retread and retread forever and ever amen. in order to get the ending right, we’ve gotta take a look at where everything went wrong. i feel vindicated in this read by the acoustic guitar. the jadedness stripped down

- it's time that i come clean, but / but for now can we just both pretend to sleep? building on the narrator’s defining flaw as his fear of change and how he tricks himself into believing that not moving in any particular direction means he gets to avoid the change entirely.

- how cheeky the line our talk is small, i'm seven inches tall reads to me because it captures a very real emotion about being formal with someone you know intimately, intimately but also because ever after is a fantastical toy land - let the album art influence your listening experience - and thus invites a more literal interpretation

- the menace of the drums in the outro; toy soldier motif anyone?

“truth or dare”

- you know, i didn’t love this one at first, nor “toy soldiers”, but now i’m deep in it for the villain songs

- nobody will know how you come and you go for it aka the toy soldiers being like “you’re so gagged for ever after, like, it’s kind of embarrassing for you”. wig fully snatched, i absolutely am horny for this album.

- just. the whole of verse two

and how it’s the seductiveness of the narrator’s worst impulses. give into this place, give into the comfort of it. it’s safe, we promise.

- the way the outro feels like clouds parting to the streaming sun, mr. heartthrob arriving on the scene with a near angelic leitmotif to stand up for himself against his own shit

“desperate measures”:

- and like, what i mean by that is, the whole song is about the narrator recognizing his shortcomings as a romantic hero, but pushing for action anyway. this song is the anti-stay where you are, just for now

- when the “desperate measures” guitar hits 👌

- the scathing humor infusing the lyrics gonna make a heartthrob out of me / just a bit of minor surgery / these desperate times call for desperate measures drives me fully insane. girlies when it’s gonna take minor surgery to make a heartthrob outta them but desperate times call for desperate measures

- hearing have a piece of american dream / open up and swallow, on your knees / and say, “thank you, i’d like some desperate measures, please” for the first time was just like, are we allowed to do this are we allowed to just record stuff like that and casually slide it in front of my ears my impressionable mind may experience lust 🥵

- fellas, is it personal growth to acknowledge you’ll never get over the pull of ever after? fellas, is it problematic to hinge your ability to get the ending right on a kiss for luck from your beloved when they’re already falling out of love with you?

asking for a friend.

“porcelain”:

- the vital, vital importance to the album’s fairytale aesthetics that the sweeping ballad is the exploration of the narrator’s best and worst quality: the depth of his love for porcelain, for their ever after life together. as his beacon of hope, it’s where he draws inspiration for moments of great heroism. but he also lets it run so deep that it overshadows his own personhood. and i love the way the music speaks to this dynamic with a pervasive and ominous and tense whooshing noise underlying the simple, beautiful melody.

- you can’t erase the way it pulls when seasons change because, like, yeah! time marching ever onward does pull at you, i feel this line in my bones. but also the way the line reflects back on the narrator’s relationship with living in the past vs. being in the present… woof

- the instrumental break slaps, it’s the best part of the song let’s be real. and the fact that the ahh-ah-ahhhhing returns! the narrator just told porcelain she has the space to tell him what she needs whenever she’s ready for that, and then the song itself gives her the break in which she can use her voice. fuckin masterful!!

“fallout”:

- SONG OF ALL TIME when the intro hits i lose all semblance of composure it makes me need to punch windows!!! i am gargling the glass!!! i am launching myself into the stratosphere and i’ll never feel the pull of gravity again!!!! FUCK

- okay but. the way this song is the narrator at his worst, his most cloying, his most pitiful. it is THE pathetic meow, meow anthem and the fact that it goes as fucking hard as it does... i cannot articulate the implications without wanting to pull out my hair but. it’s alluring!! being your worst self has a great pull on you! there’s a certain kind of dark triumph to it! WHERE’S THAT BROKEN GLASS

- the way the ‘boom-boom-tcha’ of the beat starts to speed up so there are no rests as we approach the chorus. we’re losing control: of ourselves of the narrative of the song itself!! take me away, ian casselman.

- the way you’re sleeping like a babe beside him makes me think of ‘babes in toyland’ every time i hear it. i’ve never actually seen the movie, i don’t know if it’s thematically resonant, but kind of like the seven inches tall lyric from “by now”, it simply tickles my brain that the words can evoke the universe we’re in with only sparse accompanying visuals

- how the performance of i know you’re fine but what if i / fallout crescendos. filed under: lyrics to belt along with in your car with all the windows down

- mm, shoutout to live at the rave milwaukee (2022) for giving me undying appreciation of the backing fallouts. can these boys harmonize or what?

- the way and nevertheless / it’s never you let tastes

- one of the very first things that captivated me about this song, and indeed the whole album, was the delivery of don’t tell me to fight / to fight for you / after this long, i shouldn’t have to. the pain of it?? the kinda understated wail? i turn this part all the way up in my headphones and ache ache ache

- god, just. i’m back to how pitiful it is to ask the person who’s broken up with you to be with someone else to take care of you because you don’t know how to get over this on your own. why do i love this song? why do i need to be screaming along to this song at all times?? i actually hate the narrator here, but god does the music move me in a way that kindles empathy

- porcelain’s leitmotif coming in to like, soothe us through the end of the song. the way that’s her doing what our narrator’s asked??? girl, couldn’t be me

“stutter”:

- i’d gone through a bit of a cool phase with this song, a period of ‘mm, this is cringe, actually’ but i’m just coming out the other end to be in love again. too fun for it’s own good.

- in terms of the narrative of the album (and this is the one thing i do know about the canon story), this is the narrator meeting a new character, one who has let themselves be consumed by ever after (i won’t ever be anywhere but here), now forever stuck in the cycle. it’s bright and fun - like the arcade game consuming you - but there is a brokenness to it, too. it’s too late to go / already taken me forever just to try…

- the backing ooh nah nahs tbh (thank you, matt webb)

- like, try not to bop along, i dare you

“toy soldiers”:

- now that our narrator’s been galvanized to want to move on, to leave ever after behind, we gotta get the villain in here to remind us you can’t actually escape.

- the lyrics who’ll be my montague now / to this broken capulet / how, how, how if not for you and the way the how-how evokes the word ‘house’ before moving on to the rest of the line.

- the refrain of don’t you want love? shining a light on the narrator’s insecurity that he’ll never have something as special and formative as his relationship with porcelain and how the toy soldiers are exploiting that to convince him to stay in ever after. you need to get this back, you can’t just walk away. don’t you think i [ever after/the narrator himself] deserve better after all that we’ve been through?

- and then of course the threat of i’ll follow you like toy soldiers, a reminder that ever after is with you whether you choose it or not.

- fuck man, the second verse

is fucking lit, the inherent threat. *touches a hot stove* the poetry of it.

- this song is one of those that never caught my attention when i was first falling in love with the album, but now i can’t believe there was ever a time i was kinda indifferent to it. it makes me feel like the embodiment of this emoji 😈, an emotion i apparently quite like to feel

“b team”:

- the way the intro of this one feels like a distorted version of “desperate measures”. the toy soldiers have baited the narrator into bitterness, and perhaps this is the part of the story where mr. used to romanticize is born, the seeds of him planted

- the way the second verse

illustrates the particular shape of said bitterness, and how it’s directed at porcelain for breaking the illusion of ever after again and again. the way this is clearly the least gracious read of their relationship - we see the narrator’s hand in the destruction even if he can’t - and really drives home the way mr. used to romanticize getting seduced again and again by the toy soldiers makes them the voice of his self-destruction

- the way porcelain’s out here like, “boy, i would pay you to stop.”

(this bridge bops, though, make no mistake)

- the way the ominous church music outro manages to communicate that there’s about to be a mother-effing reckoning

“so soon”:

- and in that reckoning, finally, the narrator lets go: of his bitterness, of porcelain, of ever after. it’s an achingly sad and slow affair, but there’s heart-wrenching beauty in the journey, as well

- the way the narrator’s love for porcelain shines brightest right here, in these quiet and unassuming verses

- the way the outro is, like, porcelain and our narrator being released to float peacefully away from us as the ominous organ takes over and - call me crazy - but it feels like the organ is ever after becoming more than just a presence in the narrative but a voice, as well. (i know rosh ramsay et. al. did the transition music at the very last second, so it’s honestly incredible how cohesive and Correct it all manages to be, happy to be out here stanning legends)

“no place like home”:

- GOD but the hundred-voices-as-one production of the opening lines and how it’s every version of our narrator who climbed into the hole of ever after one last time speaking at once

- the way that lends so much weight to familiar sins come crashing in / and sever forever and after / my old friend, it’s time i leave you here / for once, for all in frozen alabaster, his goodbye to ever after and to porcelain. maybe he really means it this time.

- (okay, but ever after, porcelain being home, though 😭😭)

- the lyrics my old friend, it’s time to say goodbye again / no need to tell me where you’ve been, i feel it for reasons only @nottheleastbrave​ knows and needs to know

- when our gritty guitar comes back now, it’s full of triumph, and we revisit some of the album’s key lyrics and this is it!! the narrator is taking what he needs from ever after to weave something new!! he’s breaking out but not leaving it behind!!

- WHEN THE TOY SOLDIERS HIT reprise

- the way the toy soldier chant builds to i face the music when it’s dire, finally a statement of responsibility and selfhood, a long way away from the i never face the music when it’s dire and the command of face the music when it’s dire in “ever after”. and in direct response to the toy soldier’s onslaught! i say that’s my baby and i’m proud!!

- and so does porcelain herself!! her gorgeous leitmotif coming in once more to bear witness to and approve of our narrator’s moment of self-actualization

- once upon a time / this place was beautiful and mine / but now it’s just a bottom line and he’s officially let go, freeing himself from the cycle

- and in closing off his path back into ever after, he’s finally worthy of the love he’d mythologized to the point of destruction ([there’s no] yellow bricks and happily - / ever after we lived / the end)

- the music box tinkle of an ending inviting you to start over from the beginning, find comfort in the fairy tale all over again. do you dare complete the circle one more time?

in summation: it’s a silly lil pop album, it’s high arté, everyone could get something worthwhile out of listening to it, no one will understand this album like i understand this album. thank you for reading.

[therummonster]

Sherman: i can't believe you dragged me into this.

Doctor: ...

Sherman: you dragged me into a submarine, after infecting yourself with 1128.

Doctor: sherman.

Sherman: not to mention i have a very good idea on why you wanted me to bring these stupid frickin glasses.

Doctor: Sherman.

Sherman: y'know, at least bright won't-

Doctor: Sherman!

Sherman: right right, here.

Sherman: ... you're staring into the dark? you're sure you don't want me to turn on the lights?

Doctor: ... holy fuck.

Sherman: wha...?

Doctor: OH 343. IT'S HUMONGOUS.

1128: i never thought i'd see such fun prey..

[torchickentacos]

Literary devices, how I adore you... allusion, colloquialism, alliteration, metaphor, simile, juxtaposition (!!!!!!!), anntithesis, foreshadowing, imagery, symbolism, personification, irony, hyperbole???? All amazing.

[thesaintofnevergettingitright]

I’ve seen a few people in the TAD fandom talk about how good a TAD/Hozier collab would be, and here’s the thing. Y’all aren’t wrong! It would be absolutely incredible!

But if I may suggest a slightly more unhinged collab idea for your consideration:

The Amazing Devil and Mariana’s Trench

Hear me out! For some reason I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what it would sound like if Joey Batey and Joshua Ramsey were locked in a room and forced to write a song together. Cuz here’s the thing? I have no idea what that would sound like! But I do know that it would be life-changing and chaotic, and would completely destroy me emotionally, and would include an unnecessary number of classic lit references! And what more can you ask of a song?

Like! I am begging yall to listen to Echos of You and The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace side by side! Do the songs sound anything alike? Absolutely not! But that’s not what it’s about!

It’s about the strategic mid-song emotional/musical whiplash! It’s about simultaneously being haunted and doing the haunting! It’s about being aware that you’re not mentally healthy and reveling in it! It’s about 19th century poets! It’s about being monstrous! PLEASE listen to this shit!

Echos of You

The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace

Are you going to tell me that the line

“But the notes of an old refrain still ring louder everyday/ From a little to a manic, a cacophony, a frantic/ A relentless refrain is the only thing that remains”

doesn’t sound EXACTLY like some shit Joey Batey would write? Or that

“Where you see weakness, I see wit/ sometimes I fall to pieces just to see what bits of me don’t fit/”

and

“We’ll dance together, so close we’re sharing breath/ but now I’m leading doesn’t that just scare you to death,”

wouldn’t fit perfectly in an Edgar Allen Poe themed album?? Of course not, because you’d be blatantly incorrect!!!

Anyway, please listen to both of these songs/albums and help me manifest this.

[d34dd0v3d1nn3r]

Shake Tramp

Shake Tramp: Noun. A shake tramp is someone who will literally do anything to get what they want.

The sound of glass shattering rings out through the dream bubble. A troll...a man stands with his back to the computer he'd been using, hand firmly punched through his hive's window. Violet begins to seep out from the cuts caused by the many shards of glass, but he doesn't move. He doesn't even look at what he's done yet.

His chest rises and falls, eyes clenched shut as he grits his teeth against the pain now registering from his injuries.

"Fuck!"

He pulls his hand out of the circle of broken glass, wincing as he receives more cuts from the jagged edges. Blood was now pouring down his arm, dripping down onto the floor.

"Ah shit...."

It wasn't like he could die again. But the pain still brought back a sense of urgency, and clarity of mind. He walks over to his human bed, pulling out a first-aid kit from underneath it. He takes out a few things, before sitting on the edge of the bed and beginning to pick out the glass from his arm with tweezers. The cuts scattered across the arm are fresh, but along the inner length are more, some old, others still healing. Or they would have been, if not for this incident.

"Great, and this wwvas a nevw shirt..." He sighs, picking up a roll of bandages next. "Oh wvell...vwiolet looks good on it anywvay." He takes on a joking tone, seemingly trying to dissuade concern from...no one. He's alone in the room. He's alone in the bubble. He was alone.

"...." He wraps up his hand and arm in silence, examining his work half-heartedly to make sure nothing was seeping through too much. Satisfied that he wasn't about to bleed out, he flops back onto the bed, staring solemnly at the ceiling.

"Wvell Cro, ya sure blevw it this time." He murmurs to himself. "Novw you really hawve no one."

[tvrningout]

s.potify wrapped is out and it once again reminded me that i listen to a lot of music. i clocked over 39,000 minutes and listened to over 2,000 artists and i was surprised for a second but then i’m just :’ )) that tracks actually

[doebt]

You guys why tf dont i post about my feelings on tumblr anymore but im telling you right now.... it isnt good 😭

[memoryoflife]

∞

Sending another in because I want to hear more about your music thoughts ☺️💞🙌

PUT A “∞” IN MY ASK BOX AND I’LL SHUFFLE MY MUSIC PLAYER AND GIVE YOU MY FAVORITE LYRIC FROM THE SONG THAT COMES UP.

song: cross my heart — marianas trench

"I wonder what you're doing, I wonder if you doubt it I wonder how we used to ever go so long without it And I know where I go, I'm coming back to you I'll be where I oughta be, where I oughta be, where I"

not as fancy lyrically as the last few i did, but oh... i truly do adore these lines. it's the simple complexity of love, y'know? that you genuinely do miss someone — you've parted ways with them after such a long time, and yet you cannot help but wonder about them. do they have the same regrets as you? how did you ever go so long apart?

and it's about like... wanting to return to the person because that's where you "oughta be" as opposed to wanting to continue forcing a distance. now whether the other person feels the same way as you and is willing to reciprocate a reunion, that's another question... oh, marianas trench, how i love the simple storytelling in your lyrics.

[rubythecrimsonwriter]

.

[marianas-trench-is-not-that-deep]

Spotify users who are in the top 5% listeners of an artist should automatically be involved in any presale codes or be their Ticketmaster fan verification 😤😤

[catty-words]

the thing is, my perfect mt concert setlist includes "ever after", "say anything", and "fallout" and i'm pretty sure they only play one of these reliably so. live from inside is my beautiful consolation.