I love the lyric video, gorgeous imagery (reminds me of Dark, the Netflix show). Also, very subtle and intricate production, Price showed us he's no one-trick pony. Definitely a bunch of suprises about this release, it's a bit all over the place thematically... I don't like the album title ddddddd
Jamiroquai called, he wants his hat back! The aesthetic is a bit Concrete (if anybody remembers that?!)
I'm surprised by the mixed reaction. I totally love this new aesthetic. I wouldn't say Burning the Heather is necessarily the best song they've done in a decade as there's been plenty of bops but it's certainly the most interesting thing they've done in a while that's piqued my interest.
Visuals in the lyric video are great, so is that promo picture. The album art I'm not immediately convinced of - the blurry photot thing has been done to death, but honestly I'm also happy it's not Geometric Shape #634. The song is...nice. It fits the season. It's low-key catchy. But it's also not among their, uhm, Top 50 or so? An Open Mind remains untouched in this era. I also don't seem to get the lyrics yet...seems like a rather arbitrary mix of autumnal metaphors and reflective statements that doesn't really come together.
The concrete photo is obviously them in a bunker. I have to admit my first thought when I saw the cover and “hotspot” was ...... Gay Sauna ddddd.
I love the overdone symmetry of both of these promo photos (see the very first post as well), could've been interesting if they did a cover in that vein. I appreciate what we've got, though. We're about 6 months away from them being blatant about the meaning behind both the name and artwork. Annually 2020, soon to be pre-ordered!
For me, it's one of their songs which uses a personal situation as a metaphor for something larger. On the surface it's about Neil being comfortable with having not found "the one", and how he doesn't want to spend whatever time he has left rushing around to achieve that abstract goal when he'd rather just spend the rest of his life taking it easy, but if he does happen to meet that special someone he might give it a shot. But I also think there's a sly commentary on the state of the world, how we're in the final phase of relative calm before things get really bad and how he's not planning to make any particular effort to stay alive through the proverbial changing of seasons, but if we manage to turn things around before it's too late he'll reconsider. Maybe I'm reading too much into it with that second interpretation, but the motif for this era so far seems to be industry (especially pollution) obstructing natural forms, and I definitely think the climate crisis will be a major theme on the album.
Also, on a totally different topic, Dreamland has grown on me immensely since the single came out. The "I don't wanna wake up" refrain is absolutely mesmerising and could have come straight from Very or Bilingual or the good half of Nightlife.
Both are lovely interpretations, the first one probably being the clearer one going by the text directly without context. Thanks for sharing!
Dreamland and Burning The Heather are passing me by, I have no interest in either song. I hope they are not doing a ‘Golden’.
Absolutely love the new single. Hotspot is already shaping up to be my favourite album of the trilogy.
Burning The Heather is instantly hitting the (hot)spot for me. Album artwork is great too, this era is looking good so far.
I don’t mind the murky artwork. There’s only so many eras Chris and Neil can be cutesy coloured geometry. Dreamland and Burning the Heather are ok. But An Open Mind! I can’t believe I went about a month without even knowing there were b sides out there. (A credit to my reclusiveness if nothing else) What a song. Is “When we walked in high heels over broken glass” the most femme Neil has ever been lyrically? Proud of you babes.
