Live Like Animals - Modern State of Mind (Track-By-Track)
Live Like Animals are back to prove their worth with their debut album Modern State of Mind.The Sydney-based four-piece dropped their genre-crossing album on Friday, Novemebr 3rd and have since been scoring rave reviews for their ambitious and thought-provoking take on mental health through intricate songwriting that takes the listener through various rooms of the mind and how it works.https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx4Kh2aSFAU/?img_index=1Not one to be pigeonholed early on, the group joins Wall Of Sound today to take us track-by-track through their new release, providing insights into madness within and how it all comes together conceptually throughout the album.We highly recommend listening as you read along (listen here) to hear deeper meanings and find your new favs to sing along with when the band hits the stage on their East Coast run later this week, visiting Melbourne, Newcastle, Canberra and Sydney.
Modern State of Mind
Conceptually, this interlude introduces us to The White Room. Being one of the six rooms of the mind - this song is quite literally the elevator music as you are being taken up to the different floors in a business office suite image which is where our Modern State of Mind takes place. It contains a build up sense of urgency as you feel like you are about to step into something time consuming and catastrophic.
The White Room
This song conceptualises chaos, the feeling of being trapped inside your own head and not being able to leave bad habits and becoming dependent on them for emotional safety. This is one of the full songs, the room of the mind that is turmoil and anxiety the lyric “stay the fuck away from here” definitely hammers home the notion that this room is not a nice place to be in and as we progress through the album we learn to make suitable boundaries with ourselves and learn that this room is still somewhat necessary.
Bleach
The second room is associated with frustration and bargaining. It dives into notions of prejudice and justice. The internal frustration of growing up in environments that I didn’t agree with birthed this track. The song explores ideas that my own psyche understands what is right and wrong and fights back against closed mindedness and societal pressures. I often come back to the lyrics of this song as we embody being a safe space for minorities and the truly oppressed and want them to understand that they are heard and that our shows and our family are a place for them to belong in, which I know many lack growing up.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXJEnLDpUVg
When Time Stood Still
This track is a precursor to the following song. It’s another elevator music song that foreshadows the challenging subject matter of Bloom. The lyrics are extremely pessimistic and truly personifies the one specific moment that changed my life for the worse.
Bloom
This is the room that encapsulates trauma. I talk about a very real and specific moment in my life that has left me seeking self-medication and, hopefully, a semblance of relatability. When I moved from England to Australia I left a majority of my family and the place that I grew up in behind. I think in some way a part of me that is integral to my being is still on the other side of the world, but it’s also a trauma that, to this day, shapes me into a more resilient and better version of myself. In some ways I am growing and becoming more capable.
I’ve Seen This Before
Room number 4 represents friendship and nostalgia. The song takes place some years after the events of Bloom and is, once again, a real moment in my life where I shared a drink at the pub with friends and self reflected to the point where I understood that small moments like this are what makes life worth living and I know that I can overcome my past. The title refers to a real notion I thought in my head where, at the time, it seemed like the end of a feel-good coming of age 80’s film and this track is the credit rolling transition where you leave the theatre feeling better than when you went in.
In Hexagonal Space
Another elevator track that foreshadows the meaning of the next song. It refers to rumination and personifies a feeling of not feeling present and somewhat directionless in life. The trance-techno elements of the track very much reference the uncertainty of the future, similar to the Matrix, where things may not be as they seem.
Everything Is Changing
This room of the mind is a personification of hysteria. The rock/pop elements flit between club thumper and riffy number that reference the uncertainty of two notions. What my mentors and peers expect of me and what I know and want to be capable of. I’ve always struggled with quantifying a life purpose and everyone I know seems to have it all figured out and in some ways I will punish myself for being aimless but also project these insecurities on to my friends who we’ve established are people that I love.
Rent An Escape
The final elevator track, where a TV turns on as you’re about to reach the final floor and spews propaganda about returning to the bottom floor, The White Room, and succumbing to the raw chaos of life and even abandoning hope for a better future.
Fake Smiles
The sixth and final room that we finally reach is the inevitability of depression. If you think about each song going deeper into the mind this is the song that we attempt to avoid talking about. The reality of the situation is that it’s so easy to get trapped in the uncertainty of our life journey and we make every attempt to distract ourselves including writing an entire concept album about the rooms of the mind and relate it to our journey in life. I’ve been running from something and this song is an acceptance that I needed help and as the final crescendo hits I send that one message that I’m not okay.
Live Like Animals is Nicholas Roy (Vocals), Brendan Grace (keyboard/programming), Ryan Waghorn (guitars) and Olivia Howlett (keys)
Follow them via Linktree
Stream Modern State of Mind here
Live Like Animals - Modern State of Mind tracklisting
1. Modern State Of Mind2. The White Room3. Bleach4. When Time Stood Still5. Bloom6. I've Seen This Before7. In Hexagonal Space8. Everything Is Changing9. Rent An Escape10. Fake Smiles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR6uMaug_-4
