OPPOSITES + INCIDENTALS
It's rare that an event comes along that gives a new context to a song that's already been written. And maybe even less probable that the new context will be opposite from what the writer might have intended. ... ... all while keeping his original meaning intact.
Such is the case with Asbury Park band Wetbrain's song "Pilot", the first track on the band's 2018 album, "Things You Think You Thought You Knew". The song opens with the words If some sort of a natural disaster ripped out my rug from beneath, and the song's main character thinks about his decision to respond to either "spring into action", or "just keep watching tv". Through the song he weighs and balances and finally comes to the conclusion that taking action is useless, he'll just watch tv. Apathy en masse is not so much a question of people not wanting to take a stand, but that taking a stand would be to no avail. And I probably should add that he seems to have some misgivings about taking this position.
The song was written in 2018. Fast forward to April 2020, and we're in the middle of the coronavirus epidemic. We're being told that, to control the spread of the virus, we should self-isolate and stay at home. >>> So that's where the contradiction comes in, that to take action to control the spread of the virus, we should stay home and watch tv! Not what the writer originally intended, I'm sure.
It was my final night out before everybody was grounded due to the virus that I saw Wetbrain do a show at Century Bar. A highlight of the show itself was some amazing guitar special effects that I had never seen or heard before. ...
Since the show, I've listened to a lot of their work on line. The band employs some very unusual song structures, or maybe they should even be called non-structures. They're more akin to incidental music one might experience in a film, where the instrumentals follow particular lines that are occurring in the dialogue on screen rather than the words wrapping themselves around a pre-set melodic line. It's also more akin to opera, where the instrumentals sometimes follow and catch the nuances of the thoughts being expressed, phrase by phrase, rather than the words' fitting in to the instrumentals and more traditional structures of verses and refrains.
A lot of the songs in the album deal with personal relationships, and the introspection reveals some complicated entanglements not only between the characters in the songs, but also with the integration of outside concepts such as "free will" as well.
The main character in "Pilot" says, "I don't need your commentary", so I guess I better end my comments here. This is the link to the song "Pilot", where you can read the words as they're being performed.
"Pilot" by Wetbrain (CLICK HERE).
pic from Wetbrain's Facebook page
