Brief Notes on brakence - Bugging!
The title Bugging refers to taking drugs and in the opening seconds of the song, the narrator describes taking a mind altering substance and taking joy in the speed of mechanized progress. Our age of speed means exposure to many ideas and as brakence soon says, you must watch what kind of beliefs you trust and how these reflect on you. The age of speed and the internet is also a hell of gazes and opinions where identity is worn on a sleeve that repels or attracts. In his next lines he mentions video games but the queen dying of corruption may bring to mind royalty and the at the time recent death of Queen Elizabeth. It’s a double meaning, we are presented with the fantasy of and safe danger of video games and the real evil and corruption of those in power.
The chorus is about being unable to get over someone. Video games, the speed of industry and mechanization, and our mastery of chemistry to alter the mind are not enough to fix holes in our hearts. The narrator seeks comfort in fixing the self but desire is messy and slippery, the lubricated hill where we attempt to bring down monuments of our failures.
The second verse is about the sometimes propulsive and always emotive qualities the narrator hopes to imbue songs with. He struggles with honesty and the need to find meaning in everything spurred on by a seemingly infinite web of desire and connection; one tries to find meaning but sometimes one must give in to pure feeling and impressions rather than concrete words and meanings.
The third verse connects sexual intimacy and lust to music. Strings ring like through a libidinal throat and the spit becomes that which makes the body shine. It’s easy to imagine one playing the frets right or hammering the right notes on a piano but it’s a hard way to get there just as it is easy to imagine mastering the satiation of lust and intimacy but it’s a hard road to get there.
The song itself uses a midwest emo-ish guitar lines. The twinkly quality offer a vulnerable quality to the song complementing the lyrics. The percussion is basic as to provide a basic driving rhythm while not distracting from the melodic qualities or lyrical honesty of the work.