Our first post in this new feature is a sweet bit of indie-rock from Atlanta, GA (my hometown) based group Deerhunter. This song, “Agoraphobia,” was featured on their 2008 album Microcastle, one of the best releases from last year. “Agoraphobia” is defined as an abnormal fear of open or public spaces. On the face of it, much of that comes across in the lyrics to the song, where it seems the subject wants to be locked away, perhaps in an asylum, isolated from the world.
However, when I listen to this song, especially the way Bradford Cox sings the beautiful use of alliteration in the opening, I’m strangely reminded not of a person who is scared of being in public and wants to be alone, but instead someone who is madly, blindly, obsessively in love and never wants to be away from the object of their affection.
Seeing the song this way, radically alters the potential meaning of lines like “I d a dream no longer to be free, I want only to see four walls made of concrete,” or the following verse:
And after some time I know I would go blind
But seeing only binds the vision to the eye
I’d lose my voice, I know
But I’ve nothing left to say
That sounds just like some people I’ve known who when they fall, they lose all semblance of reason, just can’t be talked to and have nothing outside of their all-encompassing love for a person that you might view as being heavily flawed, but they view as perfect.
In this case, lyrics that discuss being locked away, become metaphors for a desire to be “locked away” with this one person in this one relationship, blissfully away from the world only fed by the passion they have for this person.
Feed me twice a day
I want to fade away, away
At least that’s what I hear…what about you?
Deerhunter – “Agoraphobia” – from Microcastle (2008)
Come for me
You cover me
Come for me
Comfort me
Cover me
Cover me
Comfort me
Comfort me
I had a dream no longer to be free
I want only to see four walls made of concrete
6 by 6 enclosed
See me on video oh oh oh
Feed me twice a day
I want to fade away, away
Cover me
Cover me
Come for me
Comfort me
Cover me
Cover me
Come for me
Comfort me
And after some time i know i would go blind
But seeing only binds the vision to the eye
I’d lose my voice, i know
But i’ve nothing left to say (Nothing left to pray)
No echo in this space
I picture a depressed co-dependent person being tired of interacting with other people.
Kumail Nanjiani plays Pindar 'Pindy' Singh on Franklin & Bash – He suffers from Angoraphobia on the show, but is getting it under control –