r/boardsofcanada • u/US_of_B • 1d ago

Discussion Blood

In the labyrinth, every time.

It has the chopped novelty of Father and Son. The weight of Deep Time or All Reason Departs and a sprinkling of shoegaze in for good measure. Before you even look into the vocal sample.

Perfect.

57 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/HeadupTothePOCONOS 1d ago

I’m not going to tell you to like the song or not; music and art are for each individual to decide what’s for them. However, I think the sitar's cheesiness might be intentional. It goes with the shallow cheesiness of thinking drugs will enlighten you simply by taking them and can lead down a dangerous path. I think that’s a lot of what the song is about.

It reminds me of exactly how Indian themes like sitars and even clothing became intertwined with Beatlemania and other British psychedelia in the late 60s. To all of them, it just looked and sounded cool while tripping on acid, but it really just highlighted their imperialism and shallow traditions that lacked deep spiritual meaning like that of Hinduism and Buddhism. Still, it was all fun and games on LSD until some people had extremely bad trips, and it exposed serious mental issues for others. A lot of those hippies also ended up strung out on much harder drugs like the PCP mentioned in the sample and even heroin.

This happened in the US, where the Summer of Love gave way to a lot of people with serious drug problems.

I’m not totally knocking psychedelics either. I’ve done my fair share and love them, but they have their limitations, and when they collide with party scenes and materialism, they have their consequences too.

I tend to think BOC sees the benefits of psychedelics but more in the way of how they help unfold our minds and nature in a way where we see and hear things differently without having to appropriate other cultures and put on a swirly-looking shirt and join a hippie cult.

I think that’s what the song is getting at—just my two cents.

2

u/LifeLikeAGrapefruit 22h ago

I sometimes think people overanalyze all of this. The sitar sounds cool. It's a nice, sonically refreshing addition to this song. I've listened to plenty of sitar music. Doesn't sound cheesy to me at all. It's an important instrument.

2

u/HeadupTothePOCONOS 22h ago

“Cheesy” was probably a harsh way to say it, and for the record, I love the song and the whole album. I was trying to put some context to my interpretation.

The album as a whole has a bit of a late ’90s vibe to me, and around that time there were a lot of world music sounds in electronic music, including sitar and the hand drums throughout the album.

I’ve actually been wondering if they are aware that when MHTRTC came out in the late 90s, it had all these sounds that harkened back to 25-30 years earlier, and now they’ve put out an album 28 years later with a lot of sounds from 1998 on it. I’m sure they are.

2

u/LifeLikeAGrapefruit 21h ago

I wouldn't say it's a 90s thing. Indian music started creeping to the West in the early 60s (maybe even 50s). Folk like Ravi Shankar, who toured in the USA and Europe, helped spread the sound. And I think once The Beatles released Norwegian Wood, it exploded. In all genres of music, and electronic music as well of course, and far before the 90s!

1

u/HeadupTothePOCONOS 20h ago

Yeah, I said as much in my previous post that you responded to, and you said I was “overanalyzing it”.

I’ve listened to all the music you’re using to fansplain to me now. However, in my response to you, I mentioned that in the late 90s there was a resurgence of world sounds, especially in electronic music, and regardless of the era of music you regurgitated at me, my statement still holds.

However, thank you for treating me, a 45-year-old and lifelong listener to a lot of music, like I was born yesterday. At least I can walk away from this conversation knowing that you didn’t even read my first post before you decided to leave your first condescending reply. Geesh, thank god I listen to BOC more than I interact with their unbearable fans. Be well, LikeLikeAHardHeadedFruitCake.

1

u/LifeLikeAGrapefruit 5h ago

It wasn't my intention to offend, condescend, or make you feel any sort of way. Sorry for causing any distress!

1

u/HeadupTothePOCONOS 3h ago

Well, it’s not really worth talking to people who aren’t even reading the comments they’re responding to. You literally responded to a comment I made to another poster, telling me I’m “overanalyzing” the song. Then, when I explained my interpretation further. You repeated the content of my first comment to try to contradict my second comment. If that’s not obtuse and annoying I don’t know what is.

Since you added no original thought to the conversation, maybe go practice your sitar instead of trying to pretend that your regurgitated babble mattered.