ARGOT (STRANGE TONGUE)
released december 12th 2023
argot (n.): the jargon or slang of a particular group or class
“Argot (Strange Tongue” is a song about disconnection. It’s a re-evaluation of circumstances, an interpersonal priority shift. It’s the cold rush of incompatibility recognized.
disconnection.
stream on YouTube
commentary
The majority of “Argot (Strange Tongue)” was produced in August of 2022 as I was packing up to move from Bellingham to Olympia. Large tasks—and the procrastination associated with them—have always been sparks for my creative endeavors. It was slow going at first; I hadn’t made electronic-focused music for quite a while since my last album was wholly orchestrated piano music, and I messed around for quite a bit with some very cheesy synths before I found something that felt aggressive yet bright. A couple sessions went by before I felt like I could feel a song beginning to take shape.
Through the rest of 2022 and half of 2023, the song marinated on my laptop. I was hosting a music production club at the school I taught at, and used the project file to illustrate a couple of points. Some of the students mentioned that they enjoyed the song, which made me more confident in the direction it was going. Teaching was fairly draining for my creative endeavors outside of writing, and I didn’t revisit the project until this summer. With some pretty significant re-arrangement based on some trusted listener feedback, I arrived at the version of “Argot” that is out today. I don’t know if it will be a part of a larger album project, though I did leave lyrical doors open for this to easily fit into a broader concept I’m developing called Patina.
Lyrically, I wanted the song to be about a sudden moment of realizing that you are unable to successfully communicate with another person the way you once did. In my head, the gradual progression of copper oxidizing and acquiring a verdigris coat mirrors this process of disconnection from self or others.
This song, to me, tastes like a penny and looks like a gutter.
I’m very happy with “Argot.” It’s a return to a sound I truly missed creating, and the first time I feel like I had a specific EDM-style vision that I successfully executed. I’m very excited for what the future of my music will hold, and I feel that “Argot” displays a new avenue of creative energy for me to explore.
lyrics
(“‘To where you want to go.’
That sounds alright if it were not for this one, which says ‘to where you ought to go.’”
“I think we should take the road where we ought to be going.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t seem to be the same way as we want to go.”)
Open eyelids frozen, petrified
No baseline instinct to mollify
Amber, fading light; show yourself
No words to say I need your help
Cupric color with a verdant sheen
Tidal feelings from boiling seas
I’m reaching sunlight, the deep remains
Like it lives inside my veins
If I can’t speak of all I’ve seen then I’m unwound
And the waves all crash before they’ve even swelled
You’re acting fake, you’re here too late, that’s how I tell
I can’t communicate
In this new tongue you’ve found
Ever-present these meanings shifting
Inside my head even when I’m sleeping
Ever-present and everchanging
Can you hear me? Understand me?
If you won’t understand the words I speak out loud
Then this consciousness will only fizzle out
Unnerving taste, emotive state only indulgent now
I can’t communicate
In this new tongue you’ve found
(I can’t communicate
In this new tongue you’ve found)
(I can’t communicate
In this new tongue you’ve found)
Open eyelids frozen, petrified
No baseline instinct to mollify
Amber, fading light; show yourself
No words to say I need your help
Cupric color with a verdant sheen
Tidal feelings from boiling seas
I’m reaching sunlight, the deep remains
Like it lives inside my veins
Open eyelids frozen, petrified
No baseline instinct to mollify
Amber, fading light; show yourself
No words to say
I need your help