So, for sure we can get to know much about the rules, principles and tricks of storytelling, but that does not mean that we have to apply them systematically and always a standard way.
But nobody is allowed to say that artworks HAVE TO be done a certain way.
We could say it’s a kind of protest-song against lyrics 😀įrom a formal point of view: it is true that we can abstract rules and principles and tricks from artworks. The song could be a discourse-based song, like many protest-songs, but it is not the case either: There are characters and agents, but their identities stay very blurry and their properties are very diminished, low. No actantial characters – no deep and wide goals, no consistent motivations. Same process of transformation by reduction than before: crawl, lisp, stagger instead of walk and talk.Īlice Practice is a representative example of anti-storytelling and anti-narration: Surprisingly, the dagger-holder is now the singer, The repetition of those sad eyes helps structuring the lyrics a bit, but since it is not much connected to other elements of meaning, it sounds like a worrying, mad obsession.Ī link is finally made between the previous “scars” and the act of an aggressor armed with a dagger. It is a narrative element without the appropriate context, a plot point without a plot.įor once, two lines make sense together… but the result of it sounds absurd: who would find a dead body, drop it and take it home? We can not find any rational motivation for anybody to do that. Mystery again about the identity of this “it”.įinally we have a bit of action, with some people – this undefined “we” – who dropped a body. Why, who has quite Christian blood? We have no element to understand. “your eyes, sad eyes”: again, we have no other element to identify this “you”: is it us, or who else? The reduction of this character to his/her/their eyes stays in the overall logic of destruction. Again, the verb carries a negative meaning: to crawl, the weak form of walking like lisping is the weak form of talking. It also contributes to an aesthetic that refuses order, narration and meaning.Īgain, the subject is missing and the verb sounds vague – infinitive, available for action but not currently involved (“only crawl” sounds abstract compared to “I only crawl”). Surprisingly, the verbs of action are either deleted or weakened or turned indirect ways: a passive present continuous or a weird past time. The “I” is back, but just to assert 3 negative things on oneself, 2 about dying, 1 about a speech impediment – which for a singer/songwriter, sounds ironic, but very symbolic of Crystal Castles’ style. Same problem of meaning: the audience can not make sure about what is this “it”: the scars, or something else that remains unnamed? But the structure of the track stays surprising, it does not sound like a classic Verse/Chorus/Verse. This line breaks the systematic jumps of meaning and keeps continuous with the previous line, but not for a better result, since it just contradicts and cancels it. Nobody can tell who is the “you” and what is the “it” in “you shrug it off” the “it” could mean the previous “scars”, but we can not be sure. The meaning jumps again for the third time in three lines. The voice totally changed: it became aggressive like the music.Ī medical-sounding line, after the “Hi”, creates a weird effect of contrast. A setup, the beginning of a conversation? It soon becomes clear that this “Hi” goes with nothing else and is a kind of wrong track – just meant to establish a fake cordiality just before passing on the attack. 
The track starts on layer of 8-bit glitches accompanied by some powerful, aggressive beats.Ī nice woman’s voice saying hello… in strong contrast with the violent music. Crystal Castles – Alice Practice – Lyrics analysis, interpretation and meaning
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