It's like a deep-dive therapy session into one song that ends in a fifteen-minute dream.
A heavy, immersive cycle of mourning that eventually dissolves into a long, peaceful silence.
Released as a companion piece to the debut album 'Strange Desire,' the 'Like a River Runs' EP serves as a deep dive into one of Jack Antonoff's most personal songs, written about the death of his sister. The EP is structured as a study in perspective, featuring a '2015 Rework' that emphasizes a more contemporary indie-pop pulse, the original album version, and a live recording from Buffalo that highlights the song's heartland-rock roots. However, the most significant inclusion is 'Dreams Aren’t Random,' a fifteen-minute experimental ambient track. This piece utilizes motifs from the title track but stretches them into a cinematic, drone-heavy soundscape. Critically, the EP is viewed as a bridge between Antonoff's pop sensibilities and his more avant-garde production interests, offering a somber, focused alternative to the maximalist energy of his full-length work.
Put this on for
Empty highway at 2am with only the dashboard lights for companyRain streaking the window while you re-read old lettersHeadphones on in a crowded terminal, feeling completely invisibleQuiet apartment floor, staring at the dust motes in a sunbeamThat heavy silence after a long talk about someone you missWalking through your childhood neighborhood after everyone has moved away
Moments worth waiting for
The way the 2015 rework strips back the anthemic gloss of the original for a more intimate, skeletal synth pulse.
The sudden, jarring transition from the live energy of track 3 into the fifteen-minute immersive ambient drone of the final track.
The raw vocal strain audible in the live Buffalo recording, capturing a moment of genuine emotional exhaustion.
Sounds like
2015s production with a 2010s soul
Sits beside
Sleep Well Beast - The National, I Am Easy to Find - The National, Ghosteen - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, 22, A Million - Bon Iver
Lyrical territory
grief, death_mortality, self_examination
03Deviation
Like a River Runs · vs · Bleachers
Artist
This Album
Low Energy
Energy · ↓ −28% less than usual
On this album, low energy sits about 28% less prominent than across the rest of the artist's catalogue.
