So I recently got my digital copy of the Branches sorted out thanks to Ben, and I've been listening to it a lot. Some of the songs on this album are absolutely incredible and bring me to the verge of tears. The amount of emotional content and storytelling intertwined into the album is on a level all of it's own. I still am really in the early stages of getting to know the album so my views are likely going to get more specific as I get better acquainted with the album, but one of the things I've really enjoyed was trying to trace the song lineage. Back when The Roots came out, someone made an actual family tree showing the lineage mapped out in the album. I kind of hope we can do the same with the branches, and continue the tree to serve as a more visual guide. Anyways, to start here are is a list of some possible song linkage, based on chord choice and pacing. I haven't had a chance to really study the lyrics yet which will be the biggest indicator of how they really tie in to the story, but I'm hoping we can discuss it as a group and put this jigsaw puzzle together. Anyways, here are the observations/conclusions I've reached so far. Some of them are a stretch, others are obvious. All is well (goodbye, goodbye) - The Bastards (vol 1) ———— (listen to opening chord, and general pacing. The first few times I heard From the Mouth of an Injured Head, I kept expecting the All Is Well vocal melody.) From the Mouth of an Injured Head - The Branches Family Portrait - The Roots ———— (this one is right in the titles) Second Family Portrait - The Branches ----------- Corvus pointed out this correlation. "We had no concern for anything beyond the day we were living in" - "Our fears were trivial, They always died with every sunset" "From the roof, drinking stolen beer the day I turned twelve" - "When I was twelve, My affliction came to light" Echoes - Always Gold EP Severus and Stone - The Roots ————So this correlation is a little loose, but something about summer skeletons just reminded me of Severus and Stone. If I had to guess, I'd say Summer Skeletons is from the perspective of two brothers of Severus (or stone, whichever one didn't die, I can't remember who was who). Reasons I feel there are a correlation would just be the use of certain imagery specifically with trees something I know ben does often, so it's not concrete, but combined with the polarizing nature of the song it has very much a polarized position from severus and stone. S&S is set in the winter time, whereas Summer Skeletons is a summer time song. The focus on what are presumably two young brothers also lends to the similarity. There are just a lot of little things in terms of the way the story is told lyrically that make me feel there is a connection between these two. Summer Skeletons - The Branches ***WILLIAM LINEAGE**** Ghost Towns - The Roots ———— (similar musical overtones. Opening chords are same, though different variant, similar structure) Reminders - The Branches -----Ghost towns and Pound of flesh both follow Judah from The roots A Pound Of Flesh/Always Gold ———— Pound of flesh and Always gold has story from two brothers diverging perspectives. Always Gold makes the reference "And they said you were the crooked kind" establishing a link to The Crooked Kind on The Branches. I feel like it could link musically with Holy Branches, in simple terms of how the song is structured. However I feel it's harder to detect if it is lyrically correlated. I feel like it could be the same narrator from pound of flesh, or perhaps his offspring. It definitely has an industrial consciousness to it. A nature vs machines motif, but I can't find any specific lyrical links to the story, so It's hard to say definitively because aside from a general song structure there aren't any other indicators that draw any means of correlation. The Cooked Kind and *Holy Branches --------West has a similar sound structure (albeit much more western) to Crooked Kind and fits the idea of Judah's wayward wandering, especially given the frontier aspect of the time which fits the themes and timeframes nicely West - The Bastards Vol 2 The Dead Waltz - The Roots ———— (I'm not certain here, but I almost feel as though southern snow even mentions the charecter from the Dead Waltz. Will need to look side by side at lyrics to confirm) Southern Snow - The Branches Bishops Song - The Roots —(at first I thought bishops song might be linked with The Mute, and it could still be. But I found possible musical correlations between bishops song and letters home (aftermath) and since letters home (aftermath) is connected to letters home that correlation would exist as well. Letters Home (aftermath)/Letters Home We’re On Our Way ———— (This is uncertain and is really just trying to match musical elements so it could be a big stretch. The Mute is one of my favorite songs on the new album, I don't know what it is about the melody, but it felt familiar from the moment I heard it, like it was part of me. but I'm rambling. This link is uncertain) The Mute - The Branches The Moon is Down - The Roots — or — All Is Well Now (it’s Only Blood) (the Bastards vol 1) — or — West (the Bastards Volume 2) ————(another stretch, both slow songs. This is where I realized I should probably give it a rest for now and approach again later). The Gilded Hand - The Branches Sorry if any of these are wrong/super wrong. I plan to spend more time really listening, but I wanted to get other peoples thoughts on the album, and other connections they may have drawn. (I can't unbold/italic/or underline... weird) I'm going to edit this thread a lot as I make new observations or new observations are posted so that all the information can be nearly and centrally organized. I'll give credit to whomever makes the observation.
I'm pretty sure that the narrator from "Second Family Portrait" is the brother of the narrator from "Echoes". "We had no concern for anything beyond the day we were living in" - "Our fears were trivial, They always died with every sunset" "From the roof, drinking stolen beer the day I turned twelve" - "When I was twelve, My affliction came to light"
How is it I never heard of the Always Gold EP until now? I hadn't even heard the song echoes. I've rectified this by buying it on itunes? Was it only released digitally or was there a physical release?
Yep, there was a very limited physical release - 10 copies: http://old.radicalface.com/forum/in...music-video-announcement-of-new-ep.152/page-3 Some great work there Pedro. I haven't had the time to dig deeply into the lyrics yet, but when I do, I'll be sure to throw my 2 cents in
Oh damn, I totally missed that because I was backpacking across Europe then. Oh well, I got a copy off itunes so I could get a copy of echoes and wandering. The acoustic version of almost gold is pretty cool too. One thing I'm still trying to determine about this new record are the charecters. I get the sense that a lot of The Roots was written from children's/adolescent perspectives (severus and stone, dead waltz, ect). I get the feeling as though branches is more based in adulthood 20-35 area. There is a lot of mention of death, and dying, and making peace with death, but most of those references don't sound as though the death is coming from old age, but a sense of time being cut shorter. Letters Home is one of the few songs that seems like it's specifically about someone potentially younger (he writes to his parents after presumably being injured in the civil war), but not an adolescent. If I had to guess I'd say these characters are either the offspring of the original characters, though some of the songs could easily just be older versions of characters we already met (especially with songs like Letters Home Aftermath). I definitely get the sense though that while the roots really focused on childhood and developmental ideas (we're on our way, just general sense of exploration and the embodiment of youthful themes) which makes sense for an album titled the roots. I think the branches in addition to being set in a much more turbulent time (civil war, rise of industrialism) we also see our characters from a more world weary adult perspective. Death seems to be all over this album, which I'm still a bit uncertain as to whether that has any relevance to the branches or just encompasses a lot of the individual stories given the times (civil war). Needlees to say I'll be listening more and expanding and refining my opinions as new things pop out to me.
After a couple of listens my first connections I noticed was the familar piano riff (I think from Severus and Stone) in The Crooked Kind and the similarity between the start of Ghost Towns and Reminder, though I don't think I can delve any deeper until a few more listens. Was the actual family tree that someone made this one: http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_luook8bOi91r0933ro1_1280.jpg It was made by Aimee and shared on this thread back when roots came out. I've kept it and I always use it for reference when thinking about the whole Family Tree, its very detailed. So like you said it would be cool if someone could make a complete Roots and Branches one when all the connections are discovered!
Yes! that is the tree/thread I was referring to! Truth be told, I should have probably named this thread, Family Tree discussion because it's more than just the branches, but at the same time I also wanted to provide focus on this album, and the themes and developments in it, and how it ties into the roots instead of an entire family tree thread (which I suspect will be made after the final album of the trilogy is released). As for the connections, I had already listed ghost towns and reminders, but I'm glad someone else noticed that. I'm not sure I hear the connection between Severus and Stone and The Crooked Kind. I just referenced the tree and I think those might be from different branches. I think The Cooked Kind is from the William/Judah lineage (having names makes this so much easier!) as referenced in the song Always gold "they say you were the crooked kind". It's also worth noting I think I am starting to hear correlations between West and the Crooked Kind, which totally makes sense because West fits the whole frontier wandering motif that Judah would have been forced to take after leaving home because he killed a man.
Yeh, I see what you mean with the 'Crooked Kind' reference in Always Gold, when I first saw the track listing I thought there might be a link there. The second half of Crooked kind reminds me so much of the Severus And Stone story though, with the a kid sitting with his brother while he's ill - "I sit beside my brother and I feel him shake" Though I agree most other bits would put it in the William branch. The piano riff that I thought I recognized starts around 3:16, I'm not sure what song its from though, it could be Pound of Flesh or Severus and Stone, not sure. Also, there is this small interview where Ben talks about the personal story behind some of the songs, so it doesn't help with the fictional tree, but its interesting nonetheless: “A lot of the songs have some small relation to me or people I know,” said Cooper. “‘The Mute’ was partially inspired by my nephew, who has autism and doesn’t speak. ‘The Crooked Kind’ is about a kid who’s embarrassed of his family for being odd. I went through a phase of that, being one of 10 kids in a mixed-race family in the south, and wishing my life was something more normal. ‘Summer Snow’ was directly inspired by the one time in my life that it snowed in Florida, back in 1989. So yeah, lots of little references all throughout, though none are ever directly about me.”
I can see how the sister from "Southern Snow", could be Abigail from "The Dead Waltz", or one of her descendants. It would make sense that she would sleepwalk into the woods and go missing. After all, Southern snow does sound kind of like The Dead Waltz.
I looked a bit closer at the lyrics, and to be honest, I think you really do have a pretty good point with wording and imagery used in the second half of the song. I'm not convinced it's necessarily related, but I also think it might be, if that makes sense. I'm trying to get up the motivation to really start setting up a family tree type thing with descriptions and start pinpointing lineage lines with songs and themes. One thing I've always wondered is where the names for the original family tree came from (aside from severus and stone) no names appeared in the songs themselves? Especially for plotting this next generation names will make keeping track of things a great deal easier. I listened a bit closer to the piano bit you were referring to, and you are indeed correct about it being very similar to the severus and stone piano part. I hadn't noticed that, simply because the context for the part (the background music) is so different between them. At the same time, it could very well just be a similar piano part, but given the lyrics as well I am a bit more inclined to agree with you more. However the other correlations to the William Lineage still remain, which makes it hard to say one way or the other. I'm hoping to spend a bit of time and start organizing the groupings by the lineage and labeling them with names soon, but as for now we can leave the crooked kind in the middle.
Reguarding Summer Skeletons and The Mute,I get the feeling they're related? In Summer Skeletons there is a line about having no need to speak, barely talking. There are also the lines in both about pulling stars down, in The Mute talking about pulling stars out of the sky, in Summer Skeletons talking about stars falling into a lake.
Good observation NewEyes. When I first read summer skeletons, I assumed that the song was about brothers, but the more I think about it, the more I think it's about friends, and think that perhaps the song Chains is connected as well, as a goodbye song/story explanation to these two friends after "the mute" packs his pillowcase with everything he owns. The fact that the tracks are spaced every other track could be something deliberate as well. Sort of how in a movie you follow a character one scene, and then the next scene different characters, and then come back the scene after.
Just contributing to this thread as it seems most relevant to say: I'm listening to the Branches right now from a Youtube link I found and it is so fucking amazing. Ben you write some seriously good songs. I really hope you can come to Australia soon. And I especially can't wait until I can buy the album on iTunes in Oz (dont think I can right now). Well done mate, great album.
I haven't posted on here for a while, but my Branches CD arrived yesterday and I have to say how much I'm loving it! On my fourth listen now and it seems to be getting better with each hearing. Congratulations Ben on another amazing album. It's cool to see people's ideas about the connections with the Roots as well, some very interesting thoughts!
I think Summer Skeletons and Chains are my favourite songs so far. Thinking about what NewEyes said, The Mute is the story of one of the friends in Summer Skeletons, but Chains could be the story of the other friend. In Summer Skeletons there's this: "When all we knew wasn't stolen There was nothing real to lose" And then in Chains: "This started simple Like it always does With not much to lose" "We were thick as thieves 'til I became the one Who always went too far And I couldn't hear you" The non-mute friend becomes out of control and ends up in prison. If you look at that bit in chains where it says "and I couldn't hear you" maybe he was the only person who listened with "more than his ears", but they grew apart and he couldn't understand his mute friend anymore. The mute friend packs his bags and leaves because he's lost the only person who could ever understand him.
In addition we should take into account the character from Second Family portrait. When I was twelve My affliction came to light And I was told that some things I heard Were only there in my head But I couldn't tell Which were real and which were not And the question loomed over all I did Whether I could trust it And I guess over time It became too much And I was sent away At my mom's behest 'cause she'd grown to fear me this says to me the character is likely schizophrenic. The story also makes mention of a brother, but I get the feeling as though this song is connected with Chains, and possibly the mute as well, but it's hard to say because they could be from alternate branches. I get the feeling chains is probably related to either one or the other (perhaps both). I also get the feeling that second family portrait is linked with crooked kind... but it's just an early hunch. It's really hard to say, I feel like my opinions are revised all the time, and the more I listen the more things start to jump out at me.
Yeah, the character (who I think could well be the guy from Kin and maybe the narrator of Mountains, if we're looking at Aimee's family tree) is probably schizophrenic or something similar, cause he/she gets sent to the "house for the broken heads" (I can't remember the exact lyric). That's another thing actually, we don't have that many gender pronouns going on, so The Mute could well be a girl rather than a boy. It doesn't matter much, but it's something to think about. Reminders might be about Judah, because it seems he's addressing someone close, maybe a brother like Robert whose life didn't turn dark like Judah's. Also I think the guy from Letters Home could be the one who returns on army leave in mountains, but could be a different person altogether.
Attention all Family Tree theorists (hehe, I really wanted to say that), on Spotify there is a track-by-track commentary of the Branches! It doesn't go into loads of detail about the tree itself, but the ones about Reminders and The Gilded Hand are quite interesting https://play.spotify.com/album/50U6BqKda15Nvm1lOH4vyQ
Oh ok, well the main bit of information to do with the family tree is regarding Reminders. Ben basically says Reminders is "a direct mutation" of Ghost Towns, like we noticed, and it is in the point of view of Judah's bastard child that he didn't know about which Judah came from him travelling from place-to-place (in Ghost Towns) He also says that because of "lack of incidence" he fell into things he knew better than to do, but had to live with the consequences. This makes me think Chains could also be about him, but equally Chains could still go with the Summer Skeletons boy like Magical Zebra suggested.
