The title of Seba Protected’s “I Surprise” doesn’t promise any solutions. And certainly the tune begins with questions: “What the hell is fallacious with individuals? / What the hell is fallacious with me?”

Good questions; I’m wondering about that too.

However as an alternative of solutions, the remainder of verse one provides directions: “Twist the harm right into a steeple / Make greater than your make-believe.”

Protected makes use of a concise picture to ship a fancy thought. The steeple is essentially the most outstanding a part of the church – seen at a distance, designating it a home of worship as an alternative of an atypical home, directing the attention heavenward. To make a steeple out of harm suggests worshiping one’s ache. It’s a tempting path. Heartbreak could make an individual really feel so heroic.

However the verb “twist” complicates the story. On this tune, harm’s steeple is crooked. It might be a false idol: after we twist the reality, we lie. We “make-believe.”

This verse provides us a whole lot of details about our narrator with out saying any of it instantly. He’s fed up with different individuals (honest sufficient) however he’s additionally fed up with himself. He provides us unhealthy recommendation (worship your ache!) but additionally alerts that he is aware of it’s unhealthy (possibly he tried it himself, and came upon.)

Will we belief him?

I do, largely as a result of he undermines his personal authority.

He strikes from self-righteous to self-berating, provides recommendation he is aware of is unhealthy. This narrator is reliably unreliable. I belief him as a result of he tells extra than simply his aspect of the story.

The tune’s second set of verses are largely a listing of directions, like stage instructions to your life: “Play that tune till you hate it, / Love me like I do know she’s going to.” The shape is similar to the second half of the primary verse. That makes me assume that these subsequent few verses describe moments from our narrator’s life, disguised as recommendation. Do that out! See the place it will get you.

It will get us nowhere good: “Your woman and finest pal slept collectively / I picked you up at Ronnie’s place / your woman swallowed down each letter / he wrote throughout your face.” This verse stands out: it’s the primary time we hear explicitly precisely what occurs. It comes as a shock to the listener, placing us in the identical way of thinking because the man who’s simply been cheated upon. Possibly we don’t really feel fairly as unhealthy as he does, however we’re a minimum of with him in our shock, augmented by a lift of power from the drums.

The present of this tune is questions, not solutions. His narrator rejects the solutions which can be supplied to him: “I feel you guys are nice collectively / It’s good you’re searching for a spot / Simply possibly shut the fuck up while you inform me / My place on this race.” Protected invitations us to be with him in surprise – in not figuring out what the hell to do.

It’s good to have firm in that quest.