#tadvent

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TADvent Day 2 - Wild

@theamazingdevildiscord

The Wild is one of my favourite TAD entities, simply because we know so little about it. The King needs protecting, The Saint dances through your mistakes, The Old Witch Sleep and The Good Man Grace are fighting for control, but The Wild? It could be anything.

But what do we know about The Wild? We know it rebels against The Old Man, after years and years of bringing about unspecified Horrors. We know of the songs they'll sing about the tender caresses of its hair. We know about the wolves and voices beneath its bed, about the prayers for boldness and the desperate, crippling fear of being forgotten. The need to be something, to know that it is something.

I can't help thinking that The Wild isn't so wild. It isn't a monster to be feared, a feral creature ready to claw and bite at anyone who gets too close. It's a child who wasn't loved in the way they deserved to be. A young heart, neglected and forgotten in the shadows. It clings to the memories of the rare affection it was shown, and begs to be remembered by anybody who'll listen. And if it won't be remembered for it's own merits, then it will make sure the terror it brings will be. It's better to be feared than to be forgotten.

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TADvent Day 19 - Love

@theamazingdevildiscord

I've said before that Pruning Shears is the sound of falling in love, but really I consider it to be one part of a whole beautiful love song.

It start with Drinking Song for the Socially Anxious, a chance meeting at a party by two people who would rather hide amongst the coats than attend a party. Fast forward a while, and we're at Pruning Shears. Another party that neither of them want to be at, bit this time they can lean on each other, telling stupid jokes and laughing at their accents. They've found a kindred spirit, someone who understands them despite all their differences. We move into Fair, a love that so beautiful because it is so mundane. The couple are so painfully, wonderfully normal, and they still adore each other as much as when they first met. They grow old together, until we reach Marbles. She is fading, her memories slipping away with every passing day, and still, still he loves her. Every time he looks at her, he sees that beautiful girl who played D&D, who laughed at his jokes and saw through all his disguises. And somewhere, in what remains of her mind, she loves him too. She loves him enough to call out in any way she can, to the Inkpot Gods, that she loves him now, then, forever. If she doesn't make it back from the dark place her mind is slipping to, she has loved him all along.

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TADvent Day 15 - Hot Cocoa, Tea, and Coffee

@theamazingdevildiscord

TAD songs as hot drinks (except I don't drink tea, coffee, or alcohol so it's purely based on vibes)

Love run (intro) - matcha

King - cappuccino

Pruning Shears - Horlicks

Shower Day - hot lemon and honey

Elsa's Song - chamomile tea

Pray - apple cider

Little Miss Why So - latte

New York Torch Song - black coffee

Two Minutes - vanilla chai

Not Yet/Love Run (Reprise) - ginger and turmeric tea

The Rockrose and The Thistle - lavender tea

The Horror and The Wild - Mexican hot chocolate

Wild Blue Yonder - hot toddy

Welly Boots - creamy hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows

Farewell Wanderlust - iced coffee

Fair - English breakfast tea

That Unwanted Animal - espresso

Marbles - americano

Battle Cries - Irish coffee

Secret Worlds - hibiscus tea

The Calling - mulled wine

Drinking Song for the Socially Anxious - peppermint tea

Blossoms - orange rooibos

Chords - echinacea tea

The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace - hot buttered rum

Ruin - earl grey tea

Inkpot Gods - mocha

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TADvent Day 4 - Silence

@theamazingdevildiscord

I think one of the best ways that TAD uses quiet, if not total silence, in their music, is the way their voices fade out at the end of songs. My favourite examples of this also happen to be my two favourite songs - The Calling and That Unwanted Animal.

In the final choruses of The Calling, you start off hearing the overwhelming intensity of Madeleine's voice crying out over Joey's shouts. As her voice falters and fades, his becomes softer, gentler, a far cry from the sheer force it carried earlier. The quiet that falls is that of understanding, of backing down and choosing not to fight.

In contrast, That Unwanted Animal ends with Madeleine's cries getting weaker as she is devoured by the Creature. They both choose to fight, and the silence that falls is not tranquility but devastation, the emptiness of a world torn asunder. Both songs end with Madeleine's silence, but only in one of them is there peace.

I'm quite impressed with myself for making it to day 4 without bringing up That Unwanted Animal or The Calling, but that streak ends here. I can't help myself, this band makes me insane.

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TADvent Day 17 - Adventure

@theamazingdevildiscord

Something special about all 3 TAD albums is how the final songs never feel like an ending so much as the start of something new.

Not Yet/Love Run (Reprise) is the start of choosing to chase something. It's knowing what you want and deciding to go for it, however hard it may be. It's the beginning of becoming.

Battle Cries is the start of a new life by yourself. The relationship may be over, but rather than mourning what's gone, it's about the adventure you had getting there, and the new one you're about to have on your own.

Inkpot Gods is the start of the healing process. She's might be gone, she might have given up, but she loved you all along. You can take that with you as you find your way through this new chapter of your life. Maybe you'll be alone, maybe you'll find someone else to share it with, but what's important is that you're still here. You surviver what was, and now you can embrace what is.

There's no finality to any of it. Even if something has ended, something else has begun and that's worth paying attention to. That's worth singing about. Not the ending, not the loss, but the new world your walking into. You're not leaving the past, you're entering the future, because it isn't really over. Nothing ever is.

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TADvent Day 1 - Cosy

@theamazingdevildiscord

There's nothing that feels safer, or warmer, or cosier, than finding that one person you can truly be yourself with. The person who finds you hiding in the kitchen, or lying atop a pile of coats, or untangling a pair of headphones that seems determined to tie itself into knots just to spite you and your head, pounding and spinning with the knowledge that you really, honestly, truly don't belong here. Not amongst all these people who talk and laugh and flirt like it's the easiest thing in the world. Maybe it is. Maybe, on that day you were off school sick as a child, they taught a class on how to interact, how to enjoy it, how to be a real person. It's a shame nobody thought to teach you those skills. Or maybe they did, and you just weren't listening. But that wasn't your fault, it's always so difficult to pay attention when the crowd of people makes you want to son and run away.

But then they wall in. That one person who sees you, who understands you. The one who sends you memes, and who likes your cat photos. The one who offers you an earbud so that you can sit together without talking. And as you lay your head on their shoulder, you realise that there's nowhere you'd rather be than driving home from that party. It's less lonely here, with just the two of you.

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TADvent Day 8 - Food and Baking

@theamazingdevildiscord

TAD songs as food I've made this year (with no explanation):

Love Run (intro) - cornflake cakes

King - bacon and brown sugar chicken

Pruning Shears - raspberry marshmallows

Shower Day - brigadieros

Elsa's Song - honey garlic shrimp

Pray - birria tacos

Little Miss Why So - pavlova

New York Torch Song - Kolkata chilli chicken

Two Minutes - chocolate cherry cola cake

Not Yet/Love Run (reprise) - crispy garlic potatoes

The Rockrose and the Thistle - peppermint creams

The Horror and the Wild - frozen chocolate raspberry bites

Wild Blue Yonder - tostadas

Welly Boots - chicken tikka masala

Farewell Wanderlust - Italian sausage risotto

Fair - creamy cajun pasta

That Unwanted Animal - red velvet whoopie pies

Marbles - Lemon cupcakes

Battle Cries - homemade oven fish and chips

Secret Worlds - spicy bacon honey traybake

The Calling - key lime pie

Drinking Song for the Socially Anxious - roast chicken

Blossoms - hunter's chicken

Chords - iced spiced biscuits

The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace - cherry and almond loaf cake

Ruin - gingerbread biscuits

Inkpot Gods - cherry cheesecake brownies

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TADvent Day 5 - Winter Memories & Nostalgia

@theamazingdevildiscord

I can pinpoint the moment I realised how much this band was going to mean to me. It was during my first year at university, homesick and struggling to make friends. I took walks every day just for something to do, and I can vividly remember being bundled up in my hat and scarf and coat, fingers freezing in my gloves. I stopped on the city walls and looked out over the buildings and people below me, and on my headphones was the bridge of King. Standing so high above the world, set apart from everyone else, with an icy wind in my face, and hearing "all that matters is that you're here" was just a spiritual experience that I've never quite recovered from.