Let's talk about Hospice by The Antlers
If you're a music fanatic you'll know that there exist albums in this wide wide world that cannot be listened to
A) out of order
B) in bits and pieces
C) without giving it your full and undying attention
This, my friends, is one of those albums. I would suggest treating it as one really long song, and make sure you read the lyrics as you go because it will help you understand why this album is a fantastic work of art.
Starting from the beginning, this album is a story. It's about three people. The wife, Sylvia, who has and has had bone cancer. The husband, I call him Peter sense the write of the album is Peter Silberman and this album is a commentary on his life in an emotionally abusive relationship. The nurse, the doctor, his role is really unclear but we do know that he and Peter know eachother and he works for the hospital. In my opinion, the nurse is also a metaphorical version of the husband, but perhaps really still the same person.
The album begins with an instrumental piece titled "Prologue". It's a mix of ambient tones and what seems to be the sound of a ventilator. In my mind this song is the last days of Sylvia's life, as she is put on life support and Peter and the nurse recollect the events that have occurred in the past. To be honest, this is a bone-chilling start to the album, setting the morbid and demure tone. I often find myself drifting to sleep to this song as its ebbs and flows rock the mind into a lull. It's hair-raising but calming at the same time. Like the moment right after a tragedy where you think "This is all just a dream" but you're terrified and can't feel anything.
Kettering is placed in the perspective of the nurse character. I believe this where our story begins with Sylvia being angry- as she so often is- and blaming it on the nurse. He owes her a great, unpayable debt and that debt is her life. That he is the figure she views as medicine that has failed her, her body that has failed her. She is broken and angry and the nurse finds this shocking; as most would expect hospice patients to be calm or sad. And in this anger the nurse makes it his priority to help her and save her- but as so many things are, these efforts are futile.
Oh, Sylvia. This song reiterates the emotional trauma that Sylvia put the nurse through. She was angry and mad but he didn't give up because he wanted to save her. He's scared of her and scared of what will happen to her, but mostly scared of what will happen when she gives up. Just reading the lyrics, wow, it's scary.
Atrophy speak of the relationship between Sylvia and Peter, husband and wife. It speaks of all the things Sylvia tells Peter to do, and he does them without question because he has no other choice. She gets mad at him, but he always comes back to her because no one else will. They're both so so alone and they're both falling apart and its eachother's fault, but they only have eachother.
Fuck Bear, fuck fuck fuck fuck this song so much ugh it breaks my heart. This song is a horrible irony of a lullaby. It takes place in a flashback, Peter recollecting the past. When they first became married and Sylvia was pregnant. They both don't mind having a kid, but they know that if they would it would tear them apart- the two of them. So together the decide to get an abortion, turning a blind eye to the real problems, and when Sylvia returns from the hospital after the abortion, she is never the same. They are never the same.
Thirteen takes us back to the present with Sylvia. Her thoughts and her words. She wants Peter to save her but she can't save herself. She wants him to dig her out of the hole she's in but ends up burring them both into this hole in the process. The chimes and the ambient music is haunting; almost as if we are never meant to hear what she tells us. It is lost in the space among the white noise.
Okay so I'm gonna have to finish this in another blog post because I need to take a break from writing this but I also need to submit this post. It's like digging into a can of worms; talking about this album. It's so emotional.
The album begins with an instrumental piece titled "Prologue". It's a mix of ambient tones and what seems to be the sound of a ventilator. In my mind this song is the last days of Sylvia's life, as she is put on life support and Peter and the nurse recollect the events that have occurred in the past. To be honest, this is a bone-chilling start to the album, setting the morbid and demure tone. I often find myself drifting to sleep to this song as its ebbs and flows rock the mind into a lull. It's hair-raising but calming at the same time. Like the moment right after a tragedy where you think "This is all just a dream" but you're terrified and can't feel anything.
Kettering is placed in the perspective of the nurse character. I believe this where our story begins with Sylvia being angry- as she so often is- and blaming it on the nurse. He owes her a great, unpayable debt and that debt is her life. That he is the figure she views as medicine that has failed her, her body that has failed her. She is broken and angry and the nurse finds this shocking; as most would expect hospice patients to be calm or sad. And in this anger the nurse makes it his priority to help her and save her- but as so many things are, these efforts are futile.
Oh, Sylvia. This song reiterates the emotional trauma that Sylvia put the nurse through. She was angry and mad but he didn't give up because he wanted to save her. He's scared of her and scared of what will happen to her, but mostly scared of what will happen when she gives up. Just reading the lyrics, wow, it's scary.
Atrophy speak of the relationship between Sylvia and Peter, husband and wife. It speaks of all the things Sylvia tells Peter to do, and he does them without question because he has no other choice. She gets mad at him, but he always comes back to her because no one else will. They're both so so alone and they're both falling apart and its eachother's fault, but they only have eachother.
Fuck Bear, fuck fuck fuck fuck this song so much ugh it breaks my heart. This song is a horrible irony of a lullaby. It takes place in a flashback, Peter recollecting the past. When they first became married and Sylvia was pregnant. They both don't mind having a kid, but they know that if they would it would tear them apart- the two of them. So together the decide to get an abortion, turning a blind eye to the real problems, and when Sylvia returns from the hospital after the abortion, she is never the same. They are never the same.
Thirteen takes us back to the present with Sylvia. Her thoughts and her words. She wants Peter to save her but she can't save herself. She wants him to dig her out of the hole she's in but ends up burring them both into this hole in the process. The chimes and the ambient music is haunting; almost as if we are never meant to hear what she tells us. It is lost in the space among the white noise.
Okay so I'm gonna have to finish this in another blog post because I need to take a break from writing this but I also need to submit this post. It's like digging into a can of worms; talking about this album. It's so emotional.
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