Song Meaning
This track opens with a striking image of internal potential, a "star in my throat" suggesting a nascent voice or a flicker of hope. This hope is found "in a space inbetween," a liminal zone where "the milk of relief" flows, implying a moment of peace or catharsis. The narrator then equates motion with time, declaring "I am water, I will rise," a powerful metaphor for inevitable ascent and transformation, aiming towards a lover's presence.
The second verse plunges into a more visceral and intense imagery, describing a lover's destructive power with "Your sword / Guts the sun." This act of violence is juxtaposed with the overwhelming nature of their love, which is so potent it's described as something to "swim through." The "moonlight pools" and "phosphene tides" create an ethereal, almost hallucinatory atmosphere, hinting at a love that is both beautiful and disorienting, with unspoken messages in the lover's gaze.
The lyrics then shift to a sense of dissolution and existential questioning. The narrator and their lover "drift through stone" and "sift our own powdered bones," suggesting a profound, perhaps spiritual, cleansing or a return to elemental states. This leads to the central, disorienting query: "What is it now that is thinking this thing?" The narrator seems to be losing their sense of self, questioning the very consciousness experiencing these profound, almost cosmic events.
The final section directly confronts absence and the struggle for proof of existence. The repeated, desperate questions "Where / Are you?" and "What can you do / To prove you exist?" highlight a profound disconnection. This culminates in the raw, searching title phrase, "What / Is this?" and a haunting final question about the singer's own identity, asking "Who is this singing / That which no longer exists?" The lyrics effectively convey a feeling of profound loss, existential doubt, and the desperate search for meaning in the face of overwhelming change and absence.
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