Arms :: "Heat and Hot Water"

Arms are deservedly known for their quiet melodies and dignified, downcast pop. "Heat and Hot Water" is an exercise in layers, hiding parts of itself in the arrangement, expanding and contracting like the crystalline backing vocals that provide the gloss on an intentionally pebbled exterior. The track finds its true footing halfway through, at the 1.33 mark when the lyrics describe the following recipe for drowning: "While you're waiting outside on your sister's roof/for the light to stream out of the garden/I'll be lying face down in an empty pool/while the rain falls hard on the bottom." The structure is bare but building; the terrible dialectic lies between you, yes you, standing on the roof waiting for the sun to break through while I, yes I, lie face down waiting to drown in the rising water. From here the texture is richer, full drums, a clap-track and a plinking peel-off to simulate the coming flood. Of course, it won't change which one of you is standing on the roof and which is face down in the pool.

Listen :: Arms - "Heat and Hot Water" [zshare]