Alt-J - 'Breezeblocks'

Based on the late Maurice Sendak's classic Where The Wild Things Are Alt-J's single 'Breezeblocks' is 3 minutes & 47 seconds of pure brilliance. Breezeblocks is a musical anomaly no less. Granted it may be an acquired taste but the more you listen to it, the more it envelopes you. It pulls you into it's transient, vibrant melody with blends of ethereal synths and abrasive electronic inserts. 

"Do you know where the wilds things go they go along to take your honey (LA LA LA LA)" It almost sounds naive, yet it's incredibly tragic at the same time and there's an overall tinge of desperation beneath it all "Please don't go please don't go, I love you so, I love you so please don't go, I love you so, I love you so, please break my heart ah ha." 

It's quite difficult to place Breezeblocks into a genre, but that's what's so great about it. It doesn't need to fit into any established genre. Front man Joe Newman's vocals are like a folky, slightly nerdy Yannis Phillapakis; it's a lot to take in at first but inevitably you'll begin to appreciate the sound.

The song itself according to Newman is about being so in love with someone that you're willing to hurt yourself and them. In the end of Sendak's classic the beasts say to Max "oh, please don't go! We'll eat you whole! We love you so!" which not so incidentally is how the song ends "please don't go, I'll eat you whole, I love you so, I love you so, I love you so..." Its quite a profound and yet fitting finish. Although its quite sinister Newman is able to make a statement about love, pain and destruction. Loving someone doesn't mean you have possessive rights over them, loving someone doesn't mean they'll stay with you forever, loving someone doesn't mean they'll love you back. In that way Breezeblocks challenges some of the established ideas people have about love.

"She may contain the urge to runaway but hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks" you can't force someone to stay with you even if its because you love them. Sometimes people find it hard to except when relationships are falling apart, they'll do almost anything to keep things together and thats whats dangerous. You can't ignore obvious signs of an inevitable end "never kisses - all you ever send are fullstops". Eventually it stops being about love  and instead you're consumed by the fear of losing someone "Muscle to muscle, toe to toe, the fear has gripped me but here I go". Fear and love are a terrible mix. Fear can drive people to terrible even violent lengths "she bruises, coughs, she splutters pistol shots" there are no winners in this scenario.

A destructive attitude is what'll end things, and not in a neatly tied mutual kind of way but instead in a big destructive bang. You'll shatter each other to pieces and be left alone covered in wounds trying to clean things up "germolene, disinfect the scene". Its unhealthy to be so consumed by the idea of someone; so attached and dependent on them "she's morphine, queen of my vaccine". You can't put that kind of pressure on people;  you can't depend on someone else to 'save you', you need to save yourself.