I miss the old internet, before social media really took off. I miss the days of small personal webpages, tiny islands that people could make their own. Not connected by anything; not beholden to any sets of rules, or looks, or algorithms.
I'm so glad Seabound's site is still up. Remember when musicians would write about their music? What it meant to them, what their creative process was? So many bands don't even have personal sites now. But Seabound still does, and while it hasn't been updated in a long time, it's still there to visit. And they have posts about what their songs mean - at least for older albums like No Sleep Demon.
They have one for Avalost.
It's one of my favorite songs by them. In fact, I think it was my favorite, before Black Feathers (Requiem) dethroned it and every other song I know. It's still special to me, but there's something surprising about my love for it: I disagree with Frank's understanding of it.
Yeah. The guy who wrote it. I disagree with him.
I read that post above, and most of it resonates with me. I get the same imagery from the song - a rugged coastline, icebergs, sunlight reflecting off the snow. The heart-rending, colossal emptiness of traveling to a place where you've been before and not finding what you're looking for. The finality of your last hope sputtering and dying out.
But I think something different happens to the man there.
I had a thousand lives; count is down to one.
Playing it safe was fine, but I'll stake it all this time.
As I wade in, the icebergs sing...
And I know. I know this is the part where he's meant to die:
All these memories return in slow motion sealing his wish to die. She won't come, this is not a movie. Reality is ice. Clarity is physical pain, but naivity is defeated. This man will be gone, and the icebergs will sing before they fade away themselves.
I think the man will be gone, but not because he's dead.
I think he wades into the waters and is baptized by them. He emerges from them reborn, the weight of his past washed away in the current.
I think he walks away from that beach, a different person than when he came.
