The Over-Arching Paradigm
Before I went insane (that’s like, a double Lindsey reference, y’all), I wrote a little something for Swoon:
… This, combined with what those words actually say throughout the course of the song, is enough to make “Smells Like Content†one of the most intriguing and relevant songs in terms of the human experience. Not only does the gentle hush of the composition contain a sort of stark, digitized progression planted alongside a lone guitar climbing an awkward scale, it reflects the disparate relationship between the physical world and our minds, our language and the things it tries to represent. In this case, we’re given a hint at the outset: “Balance, repetition, composition … Mirrorsâ€. These words are spoken in sequence as if they all mean the same thing, and in some way, the song teaches us that they do.
It’s about the song “Smells Like Content” from The Books’ Lost and Safe album. I’ll tell you now, too, because I love you, that when I said I wrote a “little something”, I was lying through my teeth.
