The Way We Always Will

Metric “Cascades”

The sound of “Cascades” is heavily indebted to Kraftwerk, which is typically a sign that This Is A Song About The Future And Technology. Thankfully, that is not the case for this song. Emily Haines is instead using a cold, precise, robotic sound to convey the feeling of stoic repression of emotion. This is basically about trying to power through your feelings and keep moving and functioning, and knowing full well that you can only bottle up so much before it spills out one way or another. This is a very melancholy piece of music, but the saddest part to me is the phrase “keep whatever it is that’s compelling you on.” There’s something about the word “compelling” that feels so hopeless, like the singer can’t think of any motivation to stay alive aside from biological imperatives and objective goals.

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