Album Review: LOST IN HEAVEN (2024) â Chase Atlantic
This first track has a beat that I find similar to âMAMACITAâ. I think the correct term might be samba.
âWe just touched down in Brazilâ
According to Wikipedia: âFavela is an umbrella name for several types of impoverished neighborhoods in Brazil.â Itâs essentially a slum or ghetto. As I am largely unfamiliar with Brazilian culture, I thought it was a girlâs name at first.
âNo TSA when we landâÂ
Favelas are poverty- and crime-stricken places. Drugs and many illegal activities run rampant.
They played this when I saw them. Iâll admit it isnât one of my favorites. But itâs an interesting choice for the first track.Â
The guys are experts in sexual lyrics. Filled with minor chords, the dark and mysterious ambience is tempting. The lyrics seem more explicit to me than they usually go for. I was surprised when I first heard it. In a really good way. The sexual metaphors are so clever and witty. They just hit you one after another. Donât even bother counting how many there are.
âChase in rotation, no Drake in her playlistâ
I donât assume this is meant to stir up or address any possible beef the band has with Drake. Itâs just funny. Itâs become one of the most iconic lines off the album, quoted by many fans.
They opened each show on their tour with this song. It was the first single off the album (although you could argue that âMAMACITAâ was the firstâit came out in 2023). I remember at my show, Mitchel walked out first by himself with a drink. Then Clinton, Kras, and their touring band filled the stage.
When they play this live, they pause just before the first chorus for maybe 8 (?) seconds. Then the chorus kicks in. Itâs a trick performers sometimes do in an attempt to make everyone feels the chorus harder. I find that there can be an issue with doing this. The artists donât know exactly how it will be received by the thousands of people in the room. Some people will be confused. Some will really enjoy it. Some wonât. I assume that the decision was thought through, and I think people liked it. Experienced performers know what theyâre doing. Objectively, this trick has the potential to raise the performanceâs vibe, or leave people with a question mark floating above their heads.
Another single, and definitely one of my favorite Chase songs. The 12-second intro gets me so excited.Â
âAnd I said I wouldnât get involved / But fuck it, Iâm a human being / I donât like the way Iâm feelingâ
A sad, relatable confession of an element of the human experience. Itâs vulnerable, and put simply like the words a child would use. The innocence is there.
The percussion leading into the first chorus is perfection. Itâs just two or three seconds of triple-meter banging building up.
âYeah, Iâll do anything to kill this painâ
I relate to this line from an ADHD perspective. My dopamine receptors are fucked. There are times when I feel so low I feel I really would do anything. The deprivation of happy chemicals is actually painful and itâs why neurodivergent people are more susceptible to addictive behaviors. So this line is validating to me.
This song includes a bridge to the second chorus, and it might just be my favorite part of the song. It brings you down with a low, pulsing beat.Â
âYour lifeâs like a movieâÂ
This line begins that bridge. Sung by Mitchel, and repeated by a high-pitched voice in the background. It stops during the chorus then comes back for the outro and repeated by Mitchel again.
âIâm just so nauseous / These drugs Iâve been on, got me intoxicated / Iâm intoxicated, Iâm intoxicatedâ
Favorite part of the song right here. The buildup is crazy. Ironically, it makes my brain feel good. Itâs mind-blowing in a way that makes me almost want to cry. Or explode. Iâm not sure how to phrase it. The triple-meter percussion thing is used again here too. I could listen to this bridge on loop. The way the notes of the melody gradually increase is addictive.
âThat shitâs in the past, canât look behind me nowâ
This is present-day Mitchel talking. HoweverâŠ
âSitting with my thoughts ainât the remedy / Iâm still knee-deep in this fuckeryâ
Getting clean is only half the battle. Your problems and pain still exist. The drugs never solved them. The line feels hopeless. Like thereâs no solution. What are you supposed to do to feel better?
This is hands-down one of the most beautiful, saddest Chase songs. Iâd put it in my top ten. It was almost like a spiritual experience to hear this live. Itâs filled with regret, grief, remorse, shame, and love. âYOUâ is one of those songs that makes you stop whatever youâre doing, stare blankly into space, and fall to your knees. This song commands your senses. (It also has a few Chase Atlantic easter eggs in the lyrics.)
âYeah, itâs getting harder to moveâ
The track has a small, quiet intro that you can barely hear. The first chord sounds like the music is turning. Mitchel doesnât beat around the bush and immediately introduces the songâs situation with this line.
âBut youâve been digginâ up the truthâ
Heâs been found out, and this line makes it feel personal to the listener. He is singing, talking, to you.
ââYeah, I donât wanna stay and watch you dieââ
I wanted to mention this one because itâs just simply put and brutally honest. No ornamental metaphors or anything.
âIâm using music to distract my fuckinâ mind / So / I wrote this song for youâ
Mitchel both listens to and writes music to cope. Thereâs something about writing about your struggles that makes you feel like you have power over them instead of the reverse. By choosing to get close to it through writing, you conquer it in a way. You talk back to it. We all use music to distract our minds in some way.
âIâve been having breakthroughs / And hoping you were proud, just maybeâ
This is just damn sad. It makes me want to give him a hug. You can hear the childlike innocence.
âA thousand apologies couldnât make up for the time that Iâve wastedâ
I just. Yes. Wow. I feel this in my own way in all the time Iâve wasted in my own life. You canât change the past. None of us have that kind of power. Even when we move forward, that reality still exists.
Finally, the saxophone outro is like a cry. And a hug. A gut-wrenching conclusion that carries the listener and offers a space to reflect on all that Mitchel has said.
âSo I drown in Hennessy when the night callsâ
This beat makes a reappearance in the next track. Both songs sound like theyâre meant to go together. âDEMON TIMEâ is about Chase Atlanticâs rise to fame, itâs highs and lows, and feeling used.Â
This song isnât one of my favorites to be honest. Though I appreciate the reflection the guys share in the lyrics.
As mentioned, âNIGHT CALLSâ is like a âDEMON TIMEâ part 2. Itâs also the shortest track on the album. Thereâs a swoosh sound at the very start of the track imitating a sent text message.
âSo whatâs the point of hoping? Yeah / Iâm barely even copingâ
Simple, yet effective. The easy rhyme is nice to hear.
âAnother drink and Iâma end up on the floor, yeah / So why the fuck you joking?â
A probable reference to the âDEMON TIMEâ lyric I quoted about Hennessy, and maybe the albumâs last track titled âDONâT LAUGHâ.
Itâs a good song to listen to late at night.
I like a lot of the lyrics in this. Itâs a bop too. I take it itâs about dissociating or similar experiences.
âWhy you talkinâ to me, baby? Talk no more / I canât hold you, baby, my whole bodyâs numbâ
Sad hours: open. I like the notes Mitchel hits on this line.
âYou said, âThe grass is always greenerâ, but the sky is grayâ
Amazing. A masterpiece. Poetic. I love it. *chefâs kiss* This might be one of my favorite lyrics off the whole album. It makes you think about false optimism and stuff.
âBitch, bitch, yeah, I feel disconnectedâ
This part startled me when I listened to the song for the first time because it just come out of nowhere, loudly, after a few seconds of silence. You think the song is over. And then Mitchel yells in your ear. Nice.
I love this songâs rhythm. It hits all the right spots in my brain. Good stuff. I like the play on words with how similar âhours lostâ and âI was lostâ sound.
âBreathe in, had to find a way to stop the bleedingâ
The melody here combined with the bassline is a classic Chase move. How they switch up all the tunes in a song in a way that is unexpected and fits perfectly is just one thing that is characteristic of the bandâs sound. You hear it in bands like Coldplay and The 1975 as well.
âI was lost, abusing that money, sex, and power, babyâ
They do it again here. Is there a name for this thing?
âI donât wanna live and die, I wanna live and liveâ
First time I heard this it was like an epiphany. He gets it. This is exactly how it feels. Honestly the whole bridge is so good. Chase is king of bridges.
The ending of the song has a lot of lyrics you canât hear unless you listen closely. Or read them.
MESS ME UP (feat. Xavier Mayne)
This songâs construction makes you feel like youâre floating on clouds. I hadnât heard of Xavier Mayne before. His voice is great for this song. He has writing credits too. He sings the first verse and chorus.
âFull of blood and soil, these flowers blossom / And I can tell theyâve been dying to bloomâ
This is one of Mitchelâs lines. I just love the dichotomy here. This might be a reach, but âdichotomyâ is also a botanic term for when a plant repeatedly branches into two equal parts. I donât think flowers do that though. (Iâm not a botanist.)
If you thought âYOUâ was sad, meet âAMYâ. She is one of the bandâs saddest and depressing songs. There is no hope in it at all. Every single lyric in this is so good, Iâd end up quoting them all. The chord sequence and the long notes on âOh, Amyâ feel like theyâre pushing you down into a deep, depressive space. So much so that Iâd give people who are sensitive to the topic of addiction a word of caution with this song. On the other hand, it may also be validating and helpful. Listen at your own discretion. Itâs very well done.
This one is funky as hell. It digs at pretentious people. It kind of gives you a taste of what the next track is like. Itâs another of the albumâs singles.
âI got your girlfriend on my right side / Sheâs tryna joyride in the Audiâ
A silly goofy line. If I could describe it with an emoji, it would be the sunglasses face one.
I didnât become a hard-core fan of Chase Atlantic until the last year or so, but Iâve been listening to their music since around 2019. When the band released a teaser snippet of this song, fans online were noting that it sounded similar to a track the band released on SoundCloud in 2016 called âKnow Meâ. There are a few lyrics in âDOUBT ITâ that are similar to âKnow Meâ, and the melody is similar too.
I hate admitting that I didnât really like this one at first. I love it now. Itâs fun. Itâs a shame they didnât play it at my concert. I like how bouncy and quick it is.Â
âShe may not tell you the truth / But that doesnât make her a liarâÂ
A fan-favorite lyric. It has you going âhuh?â. I swear this band never misses. Insert another sunglasses face emoji.
This song was released over a year before the album, which is a pretty long time. The music video is hilarious and superb.
The last track on the albumâitâs rather slept on. Itâs different than the others. Itâs simple and easy to listen to. The chorus plays at the end of the âMAMACITAâ music video, which came out in early 2024. Itâs got a kind of alternative-pop vibe reminiscent of the bandâs older music. Love the saxophone interludes. I imagine listening to this song on a big open meadow on another planet.Â
Thereâs a monologue at the end. I assume itâs the character Void talking to Aura.
âI had to become someone I didnât want to beâ
This is the line that makes me think itâs Void talking.Â
I saw a clip from a meet and greet session at one of their concerts on this tour. Mitchel explains a little bit about the concept of Aura and Void. Is Aura actually good? Is Void actually bad?
