The fourth track is the floor of this record and it knows it. The spark in the title neither burns nor goes out — it pales, slowly.
And immediately after it, in track five, the direction reverses.
The Chorus Finally Changes — Downward
For two tracks the chorus ended the same way: “I’ve lost all control.” Here it finally changes — “In the weight of my doubts, I’m bound to collapse.”
The one change in three tracks goes down. Losing control is a condition. Collapsing is a forecast. Something is finally going to happen, of the worst possible kind.
This is the lowest point on the record and it is number four of nine. One more track and the direction turns.
A Spark About to Go Out
The first line: “My spark fades to gray, like a flame in the cold.”
The word “spark” is everywhere in this lyric and every time it is dying: “The spark dims to dust” in the pre-chorus, “like a spark in the rain” in the third verse. A spark in the rain is the shortest life anyone can picture.
Worth holding on to, because the same word returns in the next track: “This spark in my soul will burn through the gray.” Same spark, same gray, opposite verb.
The Same Closing Line, Twice
The previous track ended with “I’ll still search for my home.” This one ends in exactly the same words.
Two tracks in a row with the same closing line. The same device was used a moment earlier in the choruses of tracks two and three. That is the third time running that this record refuses to change the sentence it ends on.
At the bottom there are no new words. There are the same ones, repeated more quietly.
Why It Is Worth Staying Here
Because the bridge says something that has not been said yet: “From the ashes of doubt, my spark I will find.” Ashes are no longer “going out.” Ashes are what comes after.
The chorus after the bridge still returns to collapse — for the third and last time on this record. But the bridge itself carries a verb four tracks have not used: “I’ll fight and return.”
In track five the bridge and the chorus will finally say the same thing. For that to mean anything at all, though, somebody first had to get through these four.
You can hear the track on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.
In the next post I will write about “Shatter” — the title track, the one where the record turns around.
Thank you for being here.
Adam Smentoch Creator of the Dust Anthem project
