London Grammar - Metal And Dust - If You Wait

I normally like to start my posts off with a little bit of background about each artist. I feel like it helps us get to know them a bit better. Context always helps.

But I can't actually find very much on this band at all. They're from London (obvs), their names are Hannah Reid, Dot Major and Dan Rothman, and they played a very well received gig at Electrowerkz a couple of weeks ago, but apart from that there's not that much. Nothing is really given away on their facebook page, twitter or even on their own website. Maybe that's what they're going for though, they want to be elusive and aloof... Maybe not.

Anyway.

Courtesy of: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=515004201872328&set=a.515004195205662.111390.149707618401990&type=1&theater

It starts off with sounds overlapping. It could be a guitar with an effect on. It's a really good sound, sets the song up nicely. A guitar and piano then come in over the top of this.

Vocals then chime in. Hannah Reid's voice is lovely, really rich and textured and it's a really pure sound as well. I also love that she doesn't try to hide her accent like so many vocalists these days; it's like a colloquial London, similar to that of Aluna from London-based AlunaGeorge:

"And so, you built a life on trust

Though it starts with love and lust 
And when your house begins to rust
Oh it’s just, metal and dust"

The word "house" is quite often used as a metaphor for love, as houses are safe with plenty of room and are cosy. They also signify the start of lives together and are full of personal things. So here I think they use the metaphor to show that the love is kind of breaking down - "And when your house begins to rust" - and then breaking the illusion - "Oh it’s just, metal and dust" - with the casual Oh at the start conveys a kind of nonchalance; starting to say what she really wants to say but then just leaves it.

There's an effect on the word dust, kind of like an echo, which then leads into a taster of the chorus, just half of it:

"We argue, we don’t fight

We argue, we don’t fight"

Is this showing that the passion in their relationship has gone? 

There's also electric drumming in the chorus and some great harmonies. Simple but effective. The whole song is pretty chilled out at this point, all on the same level. 

The electric drumming stops after the chorus, but there's still some light percussion in the background underneath:

"And all foundation that we made
Built to last, they disintegrate
And when your house begins to rust
Oh it’s just, metal and dust "

Things pick up a bit more again on "And when your house begins to rust" and the drumming comes back in the next chorus, which is now in full:

"We argue, we don’t fight
Stay awake in the middle of the night
Stay awake in the middle of the night "

This plays through a few times. The fact that it is repeated really shows how they're not doing much else other than arguing through the night and how frustrating that is.

The song draws towards a close, but not before strings are added, with some great ad-lib from Hannah. It's a really good texture. Right towards the end there are effects on her voice, similar to that used in the beginning with the potential guitar, overlapping each other and clipping off at the end. The song then ends quite abruptly.

It kind of reminds me of Massive Attack's "Teardrop" with Elizabeth Fraser. 

Brilliant.

Youtube:

Soundcloud: