Family Friendly Fun

Every now and then, Eric Quillington wished that Infinite’s music hadn’t evolved into something so heavy-handed and serious. Many had often noted the ever-widening gap between the lyrics and vocals to albums like Insomnia, and the personality behind them. Although he had once been an angst-ridden rocker, Quillington had long since gone on to become something far more complex. While he was still content to play the part of a clown in public, he harbored an ever-increasing emotional and intellectual depth that couldn’t be captivated with the relative one-dimensional aspects of such albums as Blue Nebula. Because of this, Infinite had displayed an ever-increasing maturation; Midnight Skies managed to shine a ray of sunshine into Quillington’s (at that time) dark mindset, while INSOMNIA branched beyond simple guitar-driven songs to incorporate a wider palate of musical influences. And yet, it still wasn’t enough. There were days when he felt as though he was simply faking the melancholy while writing songs, which was a major reason behind him wanting to disband the band.

Of course, with the imminent release of two new Infinite albums over the course of following year, the group was quite far from disbandment. Part of this newfound unity had to do with Eric’s desire to toy with expectations; after three albums of ever-increasing experimentation, he wanted to lure Infinite’s fans into a false sense of security with a relatively simple collection of songs. He knew that Dancing about Architecture would be hailed as ‘back to basics’, but that was the point; it would make their fifth album all the more surprising. And yet, all the grand plans of the future, the present needed to be just as remarkable as the past. So, he introduces the next song of the evening, one that he feels a personal connection to; “This one goes out to the second, better half of Project; Prometheus.”

The instrumental bed to this song is a mixture of acoustic guitar and delicate piano playing. The latter is played by Greg Oldson, who is once again making strides away from percussion. Because of Oldson’s vacancy, the only rhythm to the song is provided by Matt Robert’s bass. He plays in short blasts, with each note serving as a substitution for the pounding of the drums. The style of the guitar strums is oriental, having taken influence from various Eastern influences. Because of this, it seems very different from anything Infinite has played before. Greg had frequently sung songs in the past, such as ‘Faust’ and ‘Strobe’, so it was hardly a surprise when his voice fills the speakers instead of Eric’s. His vocal presence isn’t what makes this so unusual, it’s the fact that he’s singing a song penned by Infinite’s frontman instead of one he’d written. Similar to the Lennon/McCartney partnership, Eric and Greg usually only sang songs they had written, and hardly ever someone else’s. Perhaps, this being amongst the most personal lyrics Quillington had ever written, he felt self-conscious enough to want someone else to sing it. Despite the singer and the writer being two completely different people, Greg still performs the song a captivating performance. He sings the words in a tone of voice that is closer to speaking, and almost seems conversational.

“I am up in the clouds, surrounded by the white noise
It’s the sound I invented for the deaf to ignore
The wait is taking too long, and I’m yearning to have the buffer of creativity
It hides my flaws from the world”

During the chorus, Eric’s introduction of the song begins to make sense. Unbeknown to most, he had written the song during the period of Jason Smith’s disappearance. In his own mind, Eric had done almost nothing to help find the man who had been his closest friend for the past several years, and instead bathed in the spotlight while the search for the missing rock-star continued. During this period of time, he had written the chorus of this song as an outlet for the negative feelings he was feeling towards himself. Quillington had always seemed to be a man of great confidence, but the first two lines of the chorus reveal some of the hidden aspects to his personality. Referring to himself as ‘noise and clutter’, he regretfully admits to stealing attention from the ‘main event’, which is implied to be talented artists such as Jason Smith. Due to the personal slant of this section of the song, he joins Greg in singing. While the drummer continues to sing in a low octave, Eric’s harmonious falsetto gives it a sense of emotional vulnerability that had been missing during the verse.

"If, for a while, we pretend the noise and clutter isn’t worth the time of day
Then, for once, the distraction will be nothing in comparison to the main event
Live the life of an enigma, and the world falls to your knees
Live the life of an enigma, and the enigma outlives you"

This is one of the few Infinite songs that follow a structure; verse, chorus, verse, chorus. It’s a structure the band doesn’t often employ, and one they avoided almost entirely on Insomnia, but seems oddly fitting now. The simple structure of both the song and its accompanying melody serve as distractions from the emotionally-revealing lyrics. It’s a theme that will run throughout the entirety of Dancing about Architecture; a gap between the words and the music, one that makes the two parts seem like entirely different things.

"Two years until deadline, but I need more time
It’s fulfilling to be lethargic throughout the important decisions
And all the time wasted is time to plan for the future
The wait is never long enough, yet I’m yearning to have the buffer of creativity
It hides my flaws from the world

If, for a while, we pretend the noise and clutter isn’t worth the time of day
Then, for once, the distraction will be nothing in comparison to the main event
Live the life of an enigma, and the world falls to your knees
Live the life of an enigma, and the enigma outlives you"

How to Disturb and Alienate Others/The Fly (U2 Cover)

“When I was a kid, it always seemed like I didn’t have all that much of a family,” Quillington says with a smile on his face, ensuring those watching that he isn’t taking what he’s saying all that seriously, “I was failing school, and my step-father was a neurosurgeon. I was possibly the skinniest kid in school, and my step-brother, who was five years younger than me, somehow managed to beat the shit out of me on a daily basis. So, y’know, didn’t really fit in there. Then I grew up, and I found my family.”

After saying the final word, Eric backs away from the microphone and stretches his arms outward. On cue, the white walls that Infinite had been surrounded by are projected with videos taken of the crowd during the band’s performance at Wembley. Almost instantaneously, the performance is transformed from one of intimacy to an grandiose event on level with any stadium gig. Surrounded by what seems like millions of fans, Infinite launch into their next song. While the previous one had been about admitting your own faults, this was the stylistic opposite; blaming others. Eric and Greg’s relationship had long since healed, but ‘How to Disturb and Alienate Others’, one of Infinite’s most famous and praised songs, was written during the time when an off-stage meeting between the two would often end in blows. In many ways, ‘Breaking Circles’ and the video shown during it can be seen as the predecessor for the themes found now. Because Eric had sung this numerous times in the past, he had perfected his vocal performance to perfection. As a result, he sings the verse with a chill-inducing mixture of both sarcasm and desperation.

"All of my past is quite a haze
I'm stuck in my thoughts, it’s all one big maze
The look in your eyes was quite a sight
Staring at the crowd seemed to spark a light
You took a bow, fucked their wives
Everybody was having a good time
You said it was like all your dreams had come true"

Instead of continuing with the song, Infinite slowly shift it into something else. The distorted guitar riff that carries the tune is repeated several more times, before gradually morphing into a new one. Fans of U2 will recognize it as the one from ‘the Fly’; true to its title, the frenzied riff sounds as though a fly is buzzing inside your head. After several more seconds of playing this riff, Quillington transitions into the song’s solo. As he has long since been one to avoid such rock-cliché’s as the guitar solo, there is a simple joy in seeing him play this way. In a move similar to ‘Family Friendly Fun’, Quillington sings the falsetto accompaniment while Oldson mutters, in a mumbled tone, the lead vocals. Similar to the style used on U2’s original recording, Greg’s voice sounds very distorted, as though it’s being heard from under water. In a nod to the Zoo TV tour, the projections of the Wembley audience have been replaced by a series of written slogans that flash by in rapid succession, such as; ‘Ambition bites the nails of success’, ‘Religion is a club’, and ‘This is not a rehearsal’.

“Love, shine like a burning star, we’re falling from the stars tonight
A man will beg, a man will crawl over the sheer face of love, like a fly on a wall
It’s no secret at all”