Songs for a Better World [I]

Purge the Poison, Another Me (In Lak'ech), Consign to Oblivion

Dawn Awakening, art by Serena Malyon

Meaningful Music

Strange as it may sound, I think I found deeper meaning and morals in music before being able to truly appreciate it in literature. Part of that certainly comes from listening to groups like Nightwish and Epica before even reaching high school, but I also think that the musical delivery of lyrics captures my imagination much more naturally than learning to excavate meaning from prose – let alone most poetry.

As you can tell from my previous writing about various songs, my interest leans heavily toward the philosophical and rarely strays anywhere near the interpersonal. (Sorry Swifties – but I think pop has enough people discussing and analyzing that music already anyway.)

In particular – and fittingly considering the rest of my writing – I appreciate the hell out of songs which verbalize and elucidate ideas, feelings and fears which otherwise envelop me (and, I think, many of us) in a depressing yet undefinable miasma. Being aware of these ideas feels empowering, and I think it genuinely can be, if we act on that feeling instead of simply recognizing it and dismissing it like just another post in a doomscroll.

Purge the Poison

Okay, okay. Yes, MARINA is also pop. And you know what? She's doing it goddamn right, especially on this album. Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land (2021) combines incredible sound with powerful intersectional feminist ideas, so don't be surprised if I return with another track off it in the future.

Despite being almost five years old, "Purge the Poison" (full lyrics here and Spotify link to all three songs here) rings truer to me today than ever before. The song takes the position that Mother Nature is purging human poison through natural disasters, wildfires and COVID-19 – just as our society has been slowly purging (or at least illuminating) its own poisons in the form of racism, misogyny, celebrity and weight loss culture, and more.

There are far more wonderful lines than I have time to list here, but "capitalism made us poor" and "your home is now your prison" stand out for me as aphorisms which have only grown stronger with time. The rise of AI and our declining offline social circles have made us poorer and lonelier, and wildfires have trapped a great many people inside even beyond that, just as the lockdowns did.

I do – as ever – personally have some questions about the genderedness of the song's message, but I'm willing to accept that as usual we're talking about historical and societal understandings of gender rather than their Platonic ideals which I might be alone in being hung up on.

That is to say, I think the song is speaking to a need for greater empathy, community and nurturing care – in addition, obviously, to achieving equality and bodily autonomy. And those 'feminine' ideals are opposed to the 'masculine' and patriarchal defaults of greed and egotism, essentially that might makes right.

(Let me know if that sounds right to you!)

Another Me (In Lak'ech)

Speaking of our personal experiences of the world and existence, if not exactly gender, Epica's "Another Me (In Lak'ech)" –"in lak'ech" is a Mayan phrase meaning "you are another myself" – puts an all-too-common feeling into words: how can these evil fucks possibly share the same baseline experience as you or I?

The song (full lyrics here) speaks more directly to those same ideas of greed and egotism that "Purge the Poison" merely alludes to, castigating those who would see other people hurt in the pursuit of their own endless enrichment.

Moreover, Epica makes clear that there can be no satisfactory end to such all-consuming behaviour: the hunger will simply continue, if not grow exponentially, right up until you get what's coming to you. As we all learned as children but forgot once capitalism got its claws in us, money can't buy happiness. In some ways the song reminds me of my piece on The Screwtape Letters, with both exploring the idea that throwing yourself wholeheartedly into a straightforward quest for happiness and fulfillment is only ever going to doom you.

I have to note: this album came out in 2005. I know that corruption and greed are nothing new, but I also can't help but wonder how much more scathing this song would be if it came out today, post-2008 and amidst the absolutely nauseating billionaire-worship of today.

Maybe in the intervening decades it's become a lot easier to forget our shared humanity, from both perspectives. But I think this song still asks us to remember it and question it, if we're going to get anywhere from here.

Consign to Oblivion – A New Age Dawns 3

If you're going to get into bands like Nightwish and Epica – which I highly recommend! – you're going to encounter a few songs which are longer than some podcast episodes. In the case of Epica, you can also expect some strange extended titles, referring to their multiple 'series' of songs which span albums and years. One of these is "A New Age Dawns", of which "Consign to Oblivion" is the third entry and which only concluded in 2025 with the release of the seventh, eighth and ninth entries on Epica's Aspiral.

"Consign to Oblivion" (full lyrics here) demands that we practice mindfulness and be aware of the lies being fed to us from every direction in today's world. It speaks to how we have been taught to keep our eyes closed and ourselves close the ground, where we can imagine we feel safe and brave. How we constantly put off both the moral good and our own dreams for tomorrow, in the pursuit of advancement today.

One of the lines that hits me hardest is delivered in a scream towards the end: "We have captured time, so time made us all hostages without mercy." Indeed, how much of our so-called control over the world has now been turned against us?

Now, I do question the way the song could be seen to point to anti-intellectualism – there are sadly a lot of people in the world who are trusting their guts and what they read online over scientists and other experts. I don't think that was the intended message, and I think they were instead aiming for something akin to MARINA's in "Purge the Poison": prioritizing empathy and community over this need to conquer every aspect of nature. Humanity over technology, understanding over control.

Northern Lights, painting by Julia S. Powell

Outro

I think these three songs cohered a lot better than I had even anticipated, but I'd love to hear your thoughts and if you'd like to see more posts like this! I'll allow "Consign to Oblivion" to play me out today; thanks for reading and until next time <3

"There is more to life than our higher positions

Race for perfection, better, faster

We must return to the laws of the nature

Free ourselves from madness."