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Listened through again last night and I have a bit of a theory. Probably unoriginal, given that Trent hinted at the general themes for each record already. First off, gonna dive into Bad Witch on its own:
The first two tracks on BW are much rockier in sensibility than the rest. Looking at the lyrics, they're also more confident, more reckless, more angry. A bit of that growly saxophone comes in to remind us of where we're headed, but it's not ultra prominent yet. We're violently looking for answers in the bad part of town. Excited, angry, careless like the music. Toward the end of Ahead of Ourselves as we start to hear that refrain, there's a sense of trepidation. Maybe this isn't such a good idea. Maybe this was too ambitious. Maybe we don't actually want to go where we're headed, but we're not stopping now.
The third and fourth tracks bring us into the underbelly, the sewage system. A dark, diesel-soaked realm of introspection and confusion that doesn't offer the easy explanation we were looking for. The saxes are in full effect. We're told we shouldn't be here. It's not safe to be here.
The final two tracks chronicle the escape and aftermath. In I'm Not From This World, we find a backdoor. It's risky, it's frightening, it's not a path commonly taken, but we'll do anything to leave the uh... sax world. Note how consistent the rhythm is. It's pounding, it's like a machine. We're barreling down this corridor, trying our best not to look back. The chaos from behind us makes itself heard, but we're only thinking one thing: move. Finally, we emerge in Over and Out. Not unmarked by the experience, but happy to be out and questioning why we felt the need to go down that rabbit hole in the first place. Why bother? Maybe the answer is that there is none. None that we'd find satisfactory or pleasant, anyway.
Pretty classic Nine Inch Nails narrative, really. What impresses me more than anything is that this story has now been told in the shortest, most efficient way possible. Six songs, that's all we need.
I see BW as a kind of micro-representation of the whole trilogy's story. A condensed, simplified version which works on its own as well as a final third. So as far as examining the trilogy as a whole:
Remember the Reznor interview where NTAE is described as exploring and lashing out at oneself for answers. The lyrics are incredibly insular. It's music written for a character trapped within their own head. Occasional observations of the outside world and past experiences are made, but we're viewing that world through a tiny slit in an otherwise impenetrable fortress. We are, for the most part, keeping to our own devices. Sticking to what and who we know. We uncover some potentially disturbing facts, but with Burning Bright, we absolve ourselves. We're not perfect, but it can't possibly be us. It's got to be them. It's got to be the world that's the problem.
In AV, we step out into that world. We notice destruction. We notice the deaths of our heroes. But if the blame lies with the outside world, would that conclusion truly satisfy us? Are we sure this is what we want? Daunting situation, if so.
Maybe it's a combination of the internal and external, which Reznor alluded to in the aforementioned interview. Maybe it's all of humanity. So in BW, we synthesize what we've learned. Our own arrogance, confidence, frustration, and righteous anger fueled by what we've observed outside lead us to do a deep dive into the human condition. We're strong enough to handle this. We're ready for it. We go in guns blazing with the first two tracks of the record. Yet by the time we descend into Sax World™, we realize we're anything but ready. We've dug ourselves so deep that the way out won't be easy, but we take it because it's the only option. And now that we're out, we question whether it was worth trying at all.
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Originally Posted by ZeroSum
