Unfolding
Unfolding - Jordin Laine
“The moment I finished writing the song Unfolding, I knew I wanted to make an album and I knew I wanted it to be the title track. I so very badly wanted to share with the world that this is how I see life everything unfolding before our eyes, all there for the simple purpose of helping us grow. I learned so much about myself in the making of this album and have to thank Adam/Eklo for bringing my ideas to life in such a magical way. I hope that you feel it in your heart, enjoy unfolding...”
I figured why would I try to write my own introduction to this album when the artist had already composed something elegant that I could use. The overarching theme of this album is outstanding as are all the tracks that are used to express it.
Recently I acquired both of Jordin Laine’s album on vinyl and have been thoroughly enjoying both of them. I initially planned on writing about them both of them together but there was just too much that I decided to split it up. So this is just part one.
Good Guys
“There was a time when I thought
We were set in stone
Most of my life spent bound
By the breaks in my bones
I caught a ride here
I'm not the one you used to know
I'm still a fighter but not
Just when my back's against a wall”
As I thought on this track with the preface in mind it took on a different meaning then what I had thought originally. I thought about things in a more big picture sense. “Most of my life spent bound by the breaks in my bones.” This is a magnificently interesting line. I see this as saying that for some time you let your life be defined by the way that others saw you and how they broke you down. You have since come to realize that you can’t let yourself and your actions be swayed by the way you are perceived and treated by others. You need to do it for yourself and no other reason. This verse ends with this fantastic sense of empowerment the kind of feeling that comes when you’ve decided to make some kind of major life change.
“I want to be anything
Other than what I'm trying to be lately
We got something sparkling
Deep down inside yeah nobody can shake it
And if the sands start sinking tonight
If the depths of the ocean dry before my eyes
If the sun burns out the sky
I'll know I went down with the good guys”
It’s poetic, metaphorical and catchy as hell. I really love the chorus. You’ve committed to making positive change and you simply don’t care what else happens; the decisions you’ve made are what is truly important. You have gone through something trying and painful but you’ve learned from it and came out the other side.
“I look around now and see
Whatever I want to believe
Today's purpose quickly becomes
Tomorrow's neverending grief
I'm not about to breakdown
On what can be ripped from me so easily
What I hold onto now
Is that untouchable, infinite feeling”
Your life can change drastically in an instant and you must learn to hold onto what is constant and reliable to keep from being negatively impacted. If you can find something like that then when the storms of life come while you’ll still be impacted, you will have an easier time coming out the other side. It is a good message; and a very relatable one. This is something that’s consistently true about the music Jordin writes and as I listen it affects me wholeheartedly as it strikes me in the very depths of my soul. This song sounds so brilliant and is so incredibly catchy after the first listen I was walking around singing it. There are many subtleties to the track that I didn’t notice until I was spinning the vinyl and using headphones. It was almost as if I was hearing the song for the first time. There is much to be gleaned from the words here. I feel empowered by this track like I can survive whatever challenges may come my way.
21
”The bus stop bench never felt so cold that night, that night
And your dog didn't like me but that would be alright, alright
I said do you know savage garden and you said, I might
The hours passed we played throwbacks and I had you in my sights
I felt so alive whenever you’d pour me a whiskey
But by the end of the night I'd be begging for someone, for anything to fix me
Lying by your side with tears in my eyes felt all kinds of risky
But the sad dried up when you asked if you could kiss me
The bars were fun when I found out you could dance, so we danced
I walked on the street and you walked on the curb so that we could hold hands
But the cars that were parked out in the road would force us to disband
And those late night walks became more than I could stand
We'd drift off
Everyone said we’d be destined for it after all
I needed something small
A turn your world upside down personality overhaul
Where’s the fun
In sorting out all of your demons so young?
But I, I can't run
’Cause people like him don't come round so much
At 21”
This has such an authentic feel; this beautiful tale of people falling in love; it’s a slow build up to a sudden drop and your in deep before you really even know what’s happening. I love how brilliantly it captures what that feeling is like.
“I felt so alive whenever you’d pour me a whiskey
But by the end of the night I'd be begging for someone, for anything to fix me”
It’s this feeling that makes it seem like something is wrong with you in the best kind of way.
“I walked on the street and you walked on the curb so that we could hold hands
But the cars that were parked out in the road would force us to disband
And those late night walks became more than I could stand”
There is this fantastic emphasis placed on how the cars make them separate it feels like this monumentous event which is creating this chasm between them. It just shows how much you enjoy being with this person.
“We’d drift off
Everyone said we’d be destined for it after all
I needed something small
A turn your world upside down personality overhaul”
I thoroughly enjoy the tongue-in-cheek ending to this; I don’t need anything major just something that will completely change your life in a probably drastic way. If you are making such a change for the right reasons and with the right person then it doesn’t seem all drastic but rather an opportunity to embark on something together whether it be crazy, risky or otherwise.
“Where’s the fun
In sorting out all of your demons so young?
But I, I can’t run
’Cause people like him don’t come round so much
At 21”
I thought about this chorus for awhile and as I did my ideas shifted and changed. In the end I decided what it’s saying to me is the fact that you don’t need to have your life all sorted or have everything figured out in order to be in a relationship with someone. You just need to have an understanding that the only thing you really have figured out is that you want to be with them and you can figure out the rest as you go along.
Apologies
”I would have went about it
A whole different way
I never would have doubted the words you would bring to me
I never should have counted
All the ways you looked at me
Down to the hour when I told you we weren't meant to be
All those sleepless hours
You lying there next to me
Crying to my phone like there's no one who gets me
Then waking up to flowers
But never had thе eyes to see
The beauty that would bloom there right in front of me
This wasn't what I wanted
I didn't want to drag this out
Yet here we are after the bar
Trying to get home but it's raining out
Can't finish what I started
I really got a way somehow
To begin again with a new friend
But I don't think that it's working out
Here I am
I've got a head on my shoulders and a sense in my heart that I really don't need a man
And it's all I can stand
To think of all of the love that you gave to me when I refused to hold your hand
But I can't go back then
Even if I could I wouldn't want to if I soaked it in I wouldn't be right where I am
Taking a chance
Singing to you
Saying I'm sorry for all that I put you through
'Cause I fell for you
Harder than I knew that I could do
And I held onto you
Until we were both black and blue
And I fell for you
Harder than I knew that I could do
And I held onto you
Until we were both black and blue”
When it comes to tracks about love this one is an exquisite outlier. It's not exactly a breakup song nor does it feel exactly like a getting back together song and despite the songs title I also believe that it's not simply an apology song either. I don’t have a problem with any of the types of songs I listed; it's just nice to get something that truly different periodically.
It is evident that there is an apology present here along with some deep introspection and some confessions. It is true that you don’t always realize the way you feel about someone until its ripped away and you no longer get to feel it. It is not easy to be so fiercely honest about such realizations, and that is what makes this track so unquestionably impactful. It is all said so beautifully in the lyrics and I was at a loss for any words of my own.
Some Kind of Cruel
”I hear the floors creak
Under my feet
They gave me morphine
Then let me go free
And there's an old smell
Of books in the walls
Don't got a doorbell
And I'm banking that no one knocks
It's so familiar
Yet there's something I can't placе
And it feels right
But it's an absolute disgrace
If I could just get out of hеre
And leave without a trace
Still I wait
Still I wait
Gotta get up
Watch your step 'cause if you trip you might fall back to it and I
I never really thought I was strong but I'm holding so tight where I don't belong
If I could just loosen my grip for one minute this sick liitle feeling I'm in it, I'd quit it but
Still I wait
Still I wait
Do you think of me
(Do you think of me)
The way I think of you?
(The way I think of you)
Do you see me in your dreams
The way you used to?
(You used to)
Will you let me be?
(Let me be)
'Cause I can't take it if it's true
(It's true it's true it's true)
All the time I spend here I must be some kind
Some kind of cruel”
There are some wonderfully incongruous lines in this track which for me do an incredible job at making a point. Sometimes in our lives we do have feelings that are illogical in this case though I think it just seems that way from the outside when in truth the feelings in this song make perfect sense to the individual that’s experiencing them. Love is oft times boiled down to chemical reactions in the brain and mathematical equations, but I believe that there are also aspects of love that aren’t logical and cannot be simply reasoned out. We cannot know what someone is feeling and just because something doesn’t make sense to you doesn’t mean it actually doesn’t make sense. I know that isn’t a revolutionary idea but for me it felt like it was. I had never thought about this in this way before and I think that will honestly change the way I view certain situations in the future. I know it is cliché to say that something is life-changing but it's true in this case; studying this track was transformative.
Mirrors
”Summer's in the air tonight
And I got no boots but I think I'm gonna kick it
I'm gonna catch a firefly
'Cause a little bit of magic only hurts the one's who ditch it
I'm gonna make a statement
Saying I'm not gonna be the one who cares anymore
'Cause you know I won't believe it
If I'm only gonna think it
Pack it up and take it down
If I got inside ain't no way I'm gonna gеt out
With mirrors all around me
I don't know what's right I can't tell what's upside down
I'm not thе one who made her
I just want to be the one that gets to watch her fall
Don't think that I can take her
This never was my fight it was my battle call
Me, I've been trying to duck out
Of the people and the places and the words that cut me down
I got a whole lotta game left in me
But it won't be any good when my body's moving underground
I can't shake this feeling that I'm placing all my bets
On a version of myself that never gets well
Tired of living my life through a dirty reflection
But never settling for less than perfection
I'm conflicted
I got chains on my wrists and the key's outside my door
I'm addicted
To the pain that comes with only wanting more
There's someone wicked
Waiting for me around every corner
And that someone looks like me”
There is really quite a bit to unpack here; it is an especially relatable track. It has been said that “A mind that has no conflict, is not alive.” I agree with this and this track certainly conveys this idea. Inner struggles can take many forms, and those forms can also change. This is definitely a song where what it makes me feel will change significantly depending on my current inner struggles and there's something quite profound about that.
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” I see this as a reasonable summary of what this album is about; there are many things that happen in life some fantastic, some horrible, and others fall somewhere in between but all these events can shape us if we let them. Seeing things from this perspective doesn’t magically make your life easier. If something is hard to deal with it’s still going to be that way. It doesn’t solve life’s complex problems but at least for me it really does help. I learned things about myself while diving into this album and its one that I will want to periodically revisit to gain new insights.
