Glaciers have melted to the sea

This week I will be comparing "Crystalised" by The XX and the cover done by Gorillaz.

 

Musicality

The XX are more of an indie pop band whereas Gorillaz is more of a mixture of techno, alternative, rock and hip hop. The original is mainly played with electric guitars, bass, drums, a keyboard or a synthesizer. The cover done by Gorillaz seems to include a xylophone and a piano. The original sounds a bit slow in the vocals, but the instruments keep the tempo and pace making it sound faster than it is and the songs seems to sound more like a duet with the guy singing one line and the girl singing every other line. The cover somehow manages to make the song sound even slower than the original. The instruments don't help as much in the cover, the vocals are slow and soft as are the instruments. The slow vocals in both the original and cover make some of the lyrics hard to understand. The cover however is harder to understand because the tempo and pace of the instruments and the vocals.



Lyrics

There's no difference between each of the lyrics. I'm not quite sure what the song is talking about, the lyrics are a bit jumbled. At times it seems the song is talking about a bad relationship and a few lyrics sound like they're talking about drugs. The stanza that best exemplifies this confusion is this one: "Things have gotten closer to the sun/ And I've done things in small doses/ So don't think that I'm pushing you away/ When you're the one that I've kept closest." The first half sounds like it may be talking about drugs especially the part about "small doses." The second half sounds like a bad relationship.

Both versions sound a bit depressing. The cover manages to sound even more depressing simply because it has a slower tempo and softer vocals. The stanza that best exemplifies the feel of sadness is: "Glaciers have melted to the sea/ I wish the tide would take me over/ I've been down on my knees/ And you just keep on getting closer." At first I thought the "you" in the last lyric was referring to the person the singer has a bad relationship with. Now I believe that the "you" may be referring to the "tide" the song refers to in the first half of the stanza. It sounds like the singer is waiting for their demise. Another stanza that is really depressing is: "You say I'm foolish/ For pushing this aside/ But burn down our home/ I won't leave alive." This also seems to back up the claim that the singer is expecting to be killed. 

The title of the song itself sounds strange "Crystalised" the song title seems to suggest drugs. I usually pair the word crystal with the drug meth. The XX's titled their song with the letter 'S' or "Crystalised" while Gorillaz titled their version with the letter 'Z' or "Crystalized" which I find interesting. The cover done by Gorillaz didn't change any of the original lyrics but they changed the title of their version. I don't understand why they felt the need to distinguish between the two titles.

I personally prefer the original because the cover sounds so much more depressing and too slow for my taste. The original keeps a good tempo and pace coupled with the lyrics which I find very intriguing. I guess it is kind of weird that I prefer the original because I only know this one song by The XX whereas I've heard plenty of songs by Gorillaz that I love.