Fixation - Speak In Tongues (Track By Track)

Fresh from the release of their new concept/mini-album Speak In Tongues (our review here), Fixation frontman Jonas Hansen has taken us behind the music with a track-by-track recount of the story told across the release and insights into the recording processes.

Let's begin...

{grow a flower}

This is where the story begins. It’s an intro-track that introduces the main-catchphrase for the whole record; «grow a flower, pick the petals, tear it’s thorns off, but there’s blood still on the grass». Which is a tagline we wanted to sort of summarize the indoctrination into a cult. The only other lyric in this song is «I just want to be part of something», so this is clearly where the protagonist searches for some meaning in their life, in a society where they don’t feel comfortable. This track, as well as the other interludes, was inspired by movie soundtracks. This one in particular was greatly inspired by the Dune soundtrack. We wanted this massive, creepy, scary introduction to the record.

Random Acts Of Violence

This was the first song we wrote for the record. The intro as you know it now, was originally the bridge in another demo. We took only that part and wrote a whole new song around it. It’s also the first time we truly experimented with screaming vocals in a much bigger scale than we’ve done before. At the beginning of recording the record, Jonas didn’t really have a good technique when it came to screaming, so this was a goal we wanted to achieve before we were done recording and this track pushed him to practice and achieve that goal.

This is the part of the story where the protagonist finds a group of people, which ends up being a cult.

{pick the petals}

This is a very different sonic approach than we’ve done before. Very synth-heavy and tuned vocals that don’t quite sound like Jonas. You get this pulsating, eerie feeling, almost like being in a trance. This is the segway to Blue Skies where the protagonist has to go through this indoctrination-ceremony that is wild and chaotic. The most frustrating part of creating this interlude was the tempo change, which had to start at the tempo and key of Random Acts Of Violence and end up in the tempo and key of «Blue Skies». But we think it worked really well and the transition feels seamless.

Blue Skies

Blue Skies is probably the most heavy song we’ve written in some ways. It starts out with a punch to the face. It’s something we haven’t done before and that we think listeners will be quite surprised to hear. It’s a song that is supposed to give you this feeling of chaos and unstableness. It’s the part of the story where the protagonist has to endure this insane indoctrination-ceremony, with people dancing around, speaking in tongues, crying and laughing maniacally, and at the pivotal moment, the protagonist's eyes see beyond reality and they experience blue skies.

It started out as an idea that Tobias wrote and it was a really fun demo to work on. It was also the track where we disagreed the most, all of us had different ideas of how we wanted to structure the song, but in the end we agreed and I think we all are very happy with how it turned out.

{tear it’s thorns off}

Going through this horrible indoctrination from the last song, the protagonist starts to realize that the cult that they’ve become a part of, is no better than the society that they wanted to leave. So they start questioning what is going on and if it is something that they really want to be a part of. The voice samples you can hear in the track, is cult-leader Warren Jeffs admitting that he was a fraud and a conman all along. The sample is taken from one of his phone calls from jail after he got arrested, we thought there was a good symbolism in using that sample. It’s one of the interludes where we’re very proud of the transition to the next song. It sounds really cool, especially live.

Tyrannical Miracle

Tyrannical Miracle was the second single we released. We always had this feeling that this song would be a great single, since it’s very straight to the point and has a catchy chorus. This is also one of the ideas that Tobias brought to the table when we first started writing demos.

At this point in the story, the protagonist has truly gotten a dislike for the cult that they’ve become a part of and starts questioning the leadership within the cult. But if they don’t feel satisfied in this cult or the society outside, what will be the best road to take?

{blood still on the grass}

The best road to take is, of course, starting their own cult. This is sort of the «turning to the dark side»-moment in the storyline. It’s where Anakin becomes Darth Vader, it’s where the protagonist realizes that if no one else can give their life meaning, they’ll have to do it themselves.

We wanted this grand, choral feeling. At one point we were thinking of gathering a choir and recording the «crescere in flore» parts of the song, but it ended up just being Jonas and Martin singing it a hundred times over in different ways and layering it.

Fever Dreaming

The grand finale. We feel like this is song that has everything that makes Fixation, Fixation. It starts out with this beautiful, eerie guitar and vocal part, before it rips apart into this heavy chorus, and of course we have some progressive elements in the post-chorus. This is the final act of the story. Where the protagonist has started their own cult, but realizes that they’ve lost contact with themselves in the process and starts questioning what really is the correct thing to do.

We wanted to end the record with the message that says, everything that you’ve created, no matter how much you regret it, will live on in some way. Even if all your followers leave you, even if no one remembers your name, the idea will be planted, like a seed, and a flower will bloom in the minds of people for generations to come.

The Norwegians know how to tell and intricate story through music hey? Get down with the new Fixation release and stay up to date on their movements across social media.

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Listen to Speak In Tongues here

Fixation – Speak In Tongues tracklisting

1. {grow a flower}
2. Random Acts Of Violence
3. {pick the petals}
4. Blue Skies
5. {tear it’s thorns off}
6. Tyrannical Miracle
7. {blood still on the grass}
8. Fever Dreaming