Reality Becomes the Dream / A New Circle
(3:09) / (0:42)
Dancing about Architecture will most likely be proclaimed as a ‘back to roots’ album, merely due to its simple, no-frills instrumentals. This is, after all, nothing like the advanced musical pieces found on Insomnia. But it never tries to be, and yet it also never tries to be a return to the band’s earlier work, because their debut album was nothing like this. The album utilizes a fairly simple musical structure to draw the lyrical themes to the forefront. And, although there are frenzied guitar solos and instrumental piano pieces, the themes are always the most important part of the album, to the extent that it essentially drives and changes the genre. When the ideas get more meditative, so do the instrumentals. And as the lyrics reach their (for an Infinite album) joyful conclusion, so does the music. Because of this, Infinite’s fourth album is the exact opposite of a ‘back to roots’ album; it’s a promise for a happier future.
On the final two tracks of Dancing about Architecture, a final, irrefutable resolution is given to the lyrical themes on Infinite’s albums. And this is because, although Quillington would never wish to admit it, they’ve all been about him. But the lyrical theme of the conflicts between optimism and pessimism, something that had been driving Infinite for so long, is reaching an end, because the singer had become so vastly different than who he was on Blue Nebula. His bleak outlook on life as a teenager and young adult contrasts vividly with the eccentric rock-star he has become, to the point that it would be impossible to write songs like ‘Problems with Pluto’ or ‘Vague Similarities’ again without forsaking emotional honesty. As such, Dancing about Architecture shows the last vestiges of the old Infinite swept away, replaced with something new. Quillington, perhaps, summarized it best when he said, “In the past, the endings to Infinite albums have been brutally bleak. Midnight Skies’ ‘Another Sunset’, for example, contrasts suicide with the act of falling asleep. Dancing about Architecture has a very different closing song. For once, there’s no cynicism of the happier aspects in life; it’s all shown through a joyous filter. I didn’t know I was capable of writing something like that.”
Melodic Description
The wall of guitar feedback and distortion transitions into the next track, but gradually fades away. What’s left is a piano melody, driven by the most dominant bass-and-drums rhythm on the album. This formula is kept for the majority of the song, but with several improvised changes in the playing of Greg Oldson and Matt Roberts. While the piano playing is very rigid and set, the instrumentals seem like an impromptu jam. The singing, shifting between a normal chest voice and falsetto, emulate Thom Yorke and Chris Martin. Two musicians who have been a massive influence on Eric Quillington throughout the years, but their effect on him is most clearly demonstrated on this track, which almost seems like a homage to their bands. But this balletic mood doesn’t last forever; in the last minute, a final, emotional guitar solo chimes out. Amid the instrumentals, Quillington’s spoken voice can be heard. This intimate moment is what the entire album has built up to, and his words are perhaps the most revealing in what has proven to be a deeply personal album. Whether this is a farewell to Infinite, or simply an honest admission of how much he relies on the band, is anyone’s guess.
The four piano notes from ‘Tracing the Familiar Patterns’ open the final song on Dancing about Architecture. But this is no longer representing a man with nothing left; in the context of what has gone on before, it now sounds meditative, almost joyful. This is, quite possibly, the simplest track on the album; it’s merely a lone man with a keyboard. Quillington’s falsetto, also using the same melody as the one on ‘Tracing the Familiar Patterns’, now seems to be serenading, perfectly fitting the lines he sings. Dancing about Architecture ends with a simple, decisive piano chord. After it’s sound echoes through the air for several seconds, all is quiet. All is at peace.
Lyrics
“Words relay the vice
Create the sunset with burning gasoline
In the silence, in the dead of night
I’ll wake up from my slumber
Words delay the vice
Leave the burdens for the mules
In the silence, in the dead of night
Reality becomes the dream
Words betray the vice
Crack open my skull and hear the vibrato
In the silence, in the dead of night
We can begin anew”
[SPOKEN]
Don’t leave me limited by concepts of infinity, but don’t leave me without this blessed trinity
Because a change in direction isn’t a loss of momentum
And love is never an easy thing, but it’s the only truth I have left to bring
I know that now, so let me take my final bow
__
“And our personalities are like a melody, one note overlapping the other
Conflicts of dominance create an uneasy harmony, an eternal harmony
The future stretches outward, giving us plenty of time to iron the wrinkles
We’re living in a perfect world”
