Sunday, December 6, 2015

Sleepwalking

Bring Me the Horizon, a British punk/metalcore band, formed in 2003 remaining local, until 2010 when they progressed to international fame. One of their recent albums, Sempiternal (2014), received Best Album from the Alternative Press Music Awards. The album contains what is known as their best song by both critics and fans, "Sleepwalking", which reached number 4 on the UK Rock Singles Chart in it's first week.

Oliver Sykes -lead singer and songwriter- divulges into his fears immediately after 26 seconds of an instrumental introduction. He continues to describe his struggles with depression and the insecurity that drags along. In the pre-chorus, Oliver sings "your eyes are swallowing me/ mirrors start to whisper/ shadows start to see". This personification exemplifies the paranoia and insecurity he faces where the judgment of unknown people burden his mind. The song begins with how he perceives his secrets to be revealed to the public, which then transitions to being traumatized and unsure to the point where he feels he's "Sleepwalking".

The chorus continues the message in saying, "time stands still/ the way it did before/ it's like I'm sleepwalking/ fell into another hole again/ it's like I'm sleepwalking". Over the course of the song, Oliver repeats the phrase "it's like I'm sleepwalking" many times to emphasize his feeling of uncertainty and depression. It also shows that he's felt this way for awhile, and he continues to "fall into another hole", a relentless cycle. He begins to feel so conflicted with his problems, he asks questions for help, "Should I sink or swim? Or simply disappear?" One can infer he feels out of control and doesn't know how to proceed, by giving in or fighting back.

At the beginning of the song, Oliver's tone is fearful with the evidence of his paranoia of how strangers perceive him to be. After the chorus, his tone slightly shifts towards being more desperate and out of control, where he asks for a reason to fight because he has none. He finishes with being lost, without a purpose and alone.

Although many refuse to admit music is poetry, this song demonstrates techniques identical to that in "conventional" poetry that isn't set to music. "Sleepwalking" with it's metalcore-like music to help set the tone, conveys a deeper meaning in the lyrics. Its example of battling depression allows the audience to relate to and understand.

5 comments:

  1. I think you did a great job presenting your argument through your evidence. Your argument flowed really well and made me understand the song more. Awesome job!

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  3. You made a great argument on the personification of objects, along with the whole aspect of repetition. I haven't heard this particular song before I had read your analysis, and even before listening to it afterwards you gave me a good idea of what it would sound like, which is a good thing! Good job!

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  4. This was really interesting to read, I definitely think that when the audience is able to connect to the performer the song becomes more powerful. It was also cool to see how a song that wouldn't come off as poetic at first can be interpreted as poetry.

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  5. I really liked how you used the timing of the lyrics in your argument. I also think you did a great job explaining the different poetic devices the song uses to get its message across. Nice job!

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