Imaad Wasif

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Lyrics and meanings:

"4:16"

IW: 4:16 is basically about reincarnation, or my primitive understanding of it. The idea is based on the minute mark (4:16) during Kurt Cobain's performance of that Leadbelly song, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," on 'Unplugged,' when you can see him in the throes of possession, and then in the next moment completely dispossessed, emptied out. The image of seeing his soul leaving his body on TV is seared in my brain and has been with me ever since.

JG: I couldn't figure out what drum beat to apply to this song at first, then right before I fell asleep that night I had a moment of clarity. I knew I needed to combine a fast rhythm with a slower one somehow, the idea of the floor tom going double time with the snare and kick matching the slower vibe of the melody just made sense to me. I'm glad it worked.

Lyrics:

Don't you blink at me

Bat your false eyelash

Sinister poses in your howling eyes

4:16 4:16 4:16

Your god ain't clean

Son of sun in the pines

You were clearly pinned

A transient alien in a druggy fairy tale

4:16 4:16 4:16

Your god ain't clean

Nervous rebirth

Channel what you can,

Until you don't exist

Watch your power dissipate,

Goner with the wind

4:16 4:16 4:16

Your god ain't clean

"Faces"

IW: “Faces” means what it says, literally and in every sense. Lyrically, It's a memory of an early revelation I had regarding identity and existence. The arc of the song is based on our joint interpretation of Steve Reich. But you always begin with an idea and it turns into something else entirely…

JG: This one is simple, I basically borrowed the pulsing beat from an early '70s German band called Harmonia. I morphed it into a simpler, louder and heavier version to help push the song along.

Lyrics:

Faces are not what they seem

Hiding places in our dreams

When I was younger I loved a girl

I didn't have to put on a face for the world

Faces can be unreal

Hiding ways that we feel

When I was younger I loved a girl

She didn't have to put on a face for the world

She didn't have to put on a face for the world

When I was younger

I asked my mama in anger

To tell me who she was

When I couldn't recognize her,

She said “You don't need reflection,

You don't need a mask,

To know that we're all actors,

To know that we're all cracked.”

Faces

Faces

Faces

"Circles"

IW: I've always wanted to get the sound that Phil Spector got on "All Things Must Pass" using multiple layers of chiming twelve string guitar, and mix it with a song that had the vibe and directness of the Wipers' "Doom Town." I think we got that on "Circles." The voice comes from my night person, who is different than my day person. I can't tell you how many times in my life I've come to realize that everything comes full circle.

JG: A mini-epic in 3 parts.

Lyrics:

It's the same old story

You're up against the wall

And if I was weird then I'm only weirder than her

I'm cursed

Baby come back from the moon

If you find you're unable to cope

I'd give you my bones

To know how to take dreams into my day, so all the lines bend

I'd give you my hope, a vanishing voice

…Into my girl

She is all I have

In the wide open night

Let your fear open doors

Come around

I'd give you my ghost

Leave no trace

Regrets, all a matter of time

The feeling might go

Be careful what I say

Regrets, all a matter of delay

In the wide open night

With your fears exposed in the quiet