My personal Interpretation of Hawaii: Part II
The first time I ever heard anything from this album, about a year ago, was when a friend suggested I watch the Akidachi Magnus Archives Alone at the Edge of the Universe animatic. Well lets just say that animatic is amazing but since then, I've seen many interpretations of this mysterious album: Hawaii: Part II.
Hawaii: Part II is a concept album by the group Miracle Musical, a side project of Joe Hawley and some other members of the Band Tally Hall, but it also features many other artists. Hawaii: Part II was released in 2012 and since then many fans have been debating the Albums meaning. So even though no one asked (like ever) my personal Interpretation.
Starting with the title. There is no Hawaii part I, so why call it Part II? There is a simple answer. This album somehow correlates with 9/11. So is Miracle Musical's only other song, Variations on a Cloud (I might write something on this later). The II in 'Part II' is meant to represent the twin towers.
We start with the opening track: Introduction to the Snow. 'Alone at the edge of a universe, humming a tune'. I think that the start of this piece is only supposed to give us a feeling that the main character (whom many call Simon) is very lonely. The second last line: 'Knows only two can make it right', establishes that were not just following one lonely character but rather that there used to be 2 characters. Now the final line could mean one of two things, eternal life through death or the genius lyrics interpretation, that it is referencing that the album is essentially a loop.
Isle unto thyself is a two part song. One sung by presumably the female love interest and the other presumably being our Simon. Now how does this fit into the timeline? Well, we just took a little dive back in time to the beginning of the story. Simon and the love interest just met. 'You were an Isle unto thyself' sings the male voice indicating that the love interest probably isn't very sociable but theres a twist. He continues: 'You had a heart you hadn't felt, why would it hurt me?'. I think this is pretty self explanatory, she seems a little rude at first but he senses some kindness in her. He asks himself, how could it hurt? She's so nice!
I've always thought of Black Rainbows as a romantic song. The back and forth between the singers (Madi Diaz and Joe Hawley) seems like a couple talking. This might be Simon and his love interest. I think who sings what part is very important in this song. Hawley starts by listing the colours of the rainbow in Hawaiian. Diaz joins in with 2 lines. 'Do we remember connected rainbows?' is the first followed by 'Stella Octangula'. Many people have called the love interest Stella after this shape which is also the 'logo' of the album. I think that by asking Simon if he remembers 'connected rainbows', is asking if he remembers the love that exists between them. I think that this song is the two lovers reminiscing about the time they spent together before their love turned bitter (among worse things...)
Next up is White Ball. This song is the couple during their last dance which is evidently 'such impossible bliss'. There are some peculiar lines sung by the male voice (Zubin Sedghi) in this song. 'Drift aloft, in some effortless place', 'Round the already dead, hung by staircase up', 'so please dismiss, what they claim about this'. In light of the next song, these are all very suspicious. Is Simon telling his lover that he will murder her? (Get it? Murders? Ok that joke was a bit dead...)
'He was in the forest looking to see the trees but none were there. He found a girl.' This song is pretty much an infinite loop since at the end, the first person narrator repeats the first line. I assume that in this song (mainly due to the title) the female love interest is murdered.
宇宙ステーションのレベル7 or Space Station (level) 7 is presumably a song about heaven but from who's perspective it is, I cannot say. I believe that this song is about the love interest wanting to see her lover but knowing that to do so she will have to leave heaven and maybe face fates worse than death. I think that the french part is the love interest reminiscing about her time on Earth. This song makes heaven appear just as a space station such as the ISS.
The Mind Electric is not only one of my favourite songs because it is a PALINDROME (you heard that right!) but also because the layering and mastering is SO GOOD. So the first half is reversed. There are a few lines that are normal during this section. They are mostly from mythological texts with seemingly no correlation. One however has an annotation that says that it is someone trying to scrape the truth about the murder out of Simon. 'My brain has claimed its glory over me' is essentially Simon pleading insane to the court whether he actually is or not, we do not know. However he is condemned to shock therapy.
Labyrinth is clearly Simon being lost in his mind possibly a repercussion of the shock therapy. The ghosts of his past are haunting him (behind me, my ex-girl's chasin' me). He also notices that he is the mouse in the labyrinth, i.e. he is basically powerless. At the end it uses repetition to show that he is trapped in his brain and cannot escape.
Time Machine is such a beautiful song. I have two ideas about this song and I am unsure which one actually fits better. The first is that this song is supposed to reenforce that the album is a time loop since Simon is taking a time machine to go back to the past. The other way I interpreted it is that this is essentially Simon lamenting the amazing love that he lost and wishing he had a time machine.
I like to imagine that Stranded Lullaby is Simon finally rebounding from madness and having a moment of calm before the loop restarts in Dream Sweet in Sea Major. One final thing: I just love the pun 'Sea Major'
I love all the different artists and styles and formats featured in this album and although this isn't even slightly coherent I hope that it gives you a new idea of this album.
