the cure's "seventeen seconds"
looking at the iconic band's album
I’m back with another album-related post, and this time I wanted to listen to a more goth album. I decided to listen to a full album by The Cure because I was feeling a bit creatively inspired by a goth playlist I was listening to, and a song by The Cure was one of my favorites on the playlist. I was also a bit inspired to do this type of post about an album that didn’t just come out this year because I really liked reading a recent essay about Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter. It’s always fun to go back and revisit an album. I decided to go with Seventeen Seconds because I don’t really hear too many people talk about the songs on this album, and I thought the more famous albums (like Disintegration) probably had enough of their own posts and essays and such.
You can use the preview below to listen along as I describe the songs.
A Reflection starts off the album with a slow moody instrumental, perhaps to set the tone. It could be a type of palette cleanser for listeners of the album to transition them between whatever was on last and what’s to come. In an interview, Robert says the track was meant to “set a contemplative mood.”
Play for Today switches to a more upbeat and fun tempo after “A Reflection.” There’s a mix of guitar, drums, and a sound only in my left airpod that sounds like a muffled, fuzzy crash. When the vocals come in, the crash moves to my right airpod, only to switch back to the left for the next instrumental portion. The lyrics seem to describe a dysfunctional relationship, with one person expecting more than the other one can give. There’s a sort of existential despair in thinking that everything we do is just a play. Then the song just sort of simmers out.
Secrets follows, a bit more stripped down than the prior song. The vocals are also a bit hard to hear, as if whispered and unconfident. The lyrics in this song convey that it is the aftermath of a love that the singer misses. In the same aforementioned interview, Robert says the inspiration was “hopelessly wishing to have the courage to seize missed opportunities.” Whether this missed opportunity was to rekindle the flame or even to start the fire, there’s a sense of regret and sadness throughout the song.
In Your House fades in next, with the instruments all seamlessly blending together as they are introduced. This song is more whimsical than the prior ones. (What I’m assuming is) the synth makes a lot of interesting noises that feel like a wave whipping by, like a sudden gust of air or a light lingering wind. The singer goes from pretending to drowning after time crawls by slowly in the empty house. The feeling seems to be that they felt it was all fun at first, this house and the idea of the person, but after time it started to feel more twisted being there, like the dawn of an unsettling realization.
Three takes its time to begin as the instruments tease their way into the song in scattered noises. The piano rings hauntingly in this song. The vocals are similar to Secrets in which they’re hard to hear, but they sound more confident in this song. It’s almost like they’re not deliberately spoken softly, and it sounds like you’re overhearing them from another room. It recounts a dialogue between two people, with someone thinking the singer is doing something bad. There’s an eerie vibe to the whole song, and I imagine it taking place in some sort of old gothic castle room.
The Final Sound is another instrumental, seemingly an intermission or interlude for the middle of the album. This song, coming after Three, comes across eerie as well, with the piano being the most notable instrument. It sounds like it could belong in a soundtrack for a vintage horror movie.
A Forest begins with these echoing sounds that sound like something between a wah-wah pedal and an old religious chant. These fade out as the guitar and bass lines come in, fun riffs with a sense of urgency. The lyrics take you on a journey through a darkening forest to find a girl who was never there despite the singer hearing her voice. Once he realizes there’s no one to find, he is lost and alone. Robert attributes this song to a childhood nightmare come true. When the singing ends, there is just the continued urgency of the guitar and bass that leave you in anticipation.
M has more of a catchy instrumental and returns to that sound of the muffled crash from Play for Today, this time making it move across my airpods as if it were a shooting star. The lyrics describe someone who is struggling as they’re always on the defense. It could be someone who never lets themselves get truly close to others as a sort of protective measure, although it’s hard to get an image of the person through the singer’s bias about her making the wrong moves. This person is always falling for someone that isn’t the singer.
At Night is grittier than the other songs on the album. The singer identifies as someone who is up and out at night, thinking that someone has to be there. There’s someone else that gets to stay in and tuck themselves into bed, in contrast with the singer. It’s unclear if there’s a true reason for the singer to be out or if he just makes himself feel as if it’s necessary. Some people stay up late at night as a form of control, with the night reserved to whatever they decide to do, not what their teachers or bosses or whoever decide they have to do. Maybe the singer is one of these people, and they’re out at night to feel a sense of control. The person they contrast themselves with may not feel this loss of control, so they get to stay in bed instead. Maybe the singer is jealous of this. Robert says it’s inspired by “the Kafka short story of the same name,” so you’ll have to read the story if you want to get a better idea of the song. (I would’ve (maybe) done it for you, but the story isn’t in the specific book of Kafka’s various works that I own.)
Seventeen Seconds is the final song and the namesake of the album. This song has a slower start to it, causing us to slow down and pay attention to what the end of the album brings. The lyrics describe the end of many things: light, noise, feeling, a picture, warmth, the dream, a wish (and its associated hope, I assume), and maybe even life. “Seventeen seconds” is repeated, and maybe it’s a way to try to make a sense of everything as so many things disappear. Seventeen seconds are important for some reason, whether it’s related to something or picked arbitrarily.
Hope you liked reading my thoughts on the album! It’s fun to sit and force myself to actually think about an album while I’m listening to it. If you have any specific albums you want me to listen to next put them in the comments! And as always, leave a comment about what you thought about the album and/or what I wrote about the album.
ttyl,
emily