I recently got to listen to the new album of Sundara Karma, a British indie rock band. Their album, ‘Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect’, was just released in this New Year! The majority of the wonderful album’s songs are fun and up beat! I personally feel that Sundara Karma are one of those bands you can’t resist to bob your head to. They definitely have a few hits everyone is sure to enjoy!
Let’s look through this album’s songs. I always find it fascinating when you look up the lyrics of a song! Yes, a song’s beat can be fun to dance to but once you know the lyrics, you feel more of a connection to it.
A Young Understanding:
This song starts off the album on an up-beat note. “Let go, there is nothing more to hide. Seeing life through closed eyes, it’s just a young understanding.” I portray these lyrics as a reminder to not worry so much in life. They’re telling us that there’s no reason to try to fit in with the crowd anymore, we can be so much happier once we quit hiding our true self and accept it. People often think too far into things, but if you ‘close your eyes’ you can just carry on without over-thinking. This is how many young people live, they’re carefree, and therefore it’s a “young understanding.”
Loveblood:
I really enjoy this song’s sound. In an interview for the Independent, the lead singer Oscar Lulu explained this awesome song! I don’t think anyone could tell you about this piece better than the man who wrote it himself.
“The story of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ is perhaps my favorite story ever and combined with Shakespeare’s particular gift of language and expression of such simple concepts, I was inspired to write the lyrical theme for ‘Loveblood’, a song I was working on roughly around the same time. It’s about two people that fall in love, but due to the unexplained, are fated for tragic demise. The idea of romance and tragedy really appealed to me, also the idea of fate is something that I knew I wanted to write about. One of the first lyrics I jotted down was “Fated to kill the sweetest things” and that was a real catalyst for the rest of the narrative. The chorus lyric, “What’s that from above” symbolizes looking toward the heavens or searching for metaphysical reasoning as to why things are the way they are, something I personally tend to do a lot.”
Flame:
“Found true meaning, now my head starts spinning out the cave. You won’t come with me ‘cause you’re just too comfortable in chains.” This song is based off of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The band has spoke out about the music video. They said, “We are basically commenting on the whole postmodern reality that we find ourselves living in … the Matrix. Where adverts, politicians, the war on drugs, terrorism, consumerism, mass production, celebrity culture, social networks etc. are the shadows that permeate our walls – and we all buy into it.” In simpler words in my opinion, he’s saying he thinks some of society has become used to and too comfortable with certain aspects of how we run as a society. He now has “found true meaning” and sees better things ahead. He sees more to be accomplished. He wants to move forward and keep progressing in life and as a society! This song is a fun tune and has well-written lyrics with a nice meaning.
Watching from Great Heights:
This song holds ambition and hope. “We’ll be watching from great heights and we’ll observe the things they hide. Fight the fear we keep inside,the more we seek the higher we’ll climb.” I understand these lyrics to mean that even though we can be nervous to pursue our dreams, we need to fight that fear. The more ambitions you have in life and the more bravery you have, the better you’ll do. I believe “the higher we’ll climb” could be a metaphor for representing the more success they will achieve.
‘Olympia’, ‘Happy Family’, ‘Lose the Feeling’, ‘She Said’, ‘Vivienne’, ‘Be Nobody’, ‘Deep Relief’, and ‘The Night’ are the other lovely tracks of the album. Each track really is special. The lyrics hold personal stories and thoughts on life. I think it is important to look at lyrics and form our meaning for them. We should create our own bonds with music. Remember, these are only my interpretations of the songs!
Definitely give Sundara Karma’s new album ‘Youth is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect’ a listen! I highly recommend this talented four-piece band.
Music, Why Not!- Your Dose of Music
Written By: Hannah Rose