Dragonflies (new single)

[klein]

So I guess Lifehouse is Ozwald now. I don't know why they would produce a Lifehouse song like this. Thoughts?

[Robert]

A few of us were talking about this in the Lifehouse 2020 thread but it makes sense to make this new one here are my thoughts so far:

This is definitely one to listen to with headphones in an empty, quiet room — the mix is crazy muddy but after about five listens I kiiind of start to understand the purpose (if there is one) behind the wall of sound that can’t be dismantled into layers. The comments on their insta posts are rather negative and say that this is too far of a departure from the band, but to be honest I absolutely see the lineage here. Vibes are donated from the 2004 Demoes album (Sleeping With the Lights On), vocal effects from JW’s solo version of Clarity (as well as Penellopieces) off Paper Cuts, and of course Winzlo too. The instrumentation and melody feel very solo Jason to me, but to my ears the drums seal it as a Lifehouse track. I don’t hear as much Ozwald as others do (mostly because Steve’s voice isn’t here), but think if I listen without preconceptions it’s going to further grow on me.

Very clearly mixed and mastered by the band themselves, which is a huge loss though — it’s its own art and should be left to professionals in that field. The mix and mastering alone ruin the track to the point it’s almost unlistenable! Very frustrating, not to mention the effect put over Jason’s voice (and the lack of Bryce’s bgvs anywhere). It almost feels like they recorded their parts separately and built on top of a track J and Steve made. Hoping if they do an album that Jude will knock some sense into them to give the final stems to professionals to do justice to the bones of the track, which seem pretty solid.

[apres13]

I see this as an experience for them. I think the live version of this will be better. They are still excellent live, just need the "fifth beatle" to produce the tracks. I say this as an artist myself, just because I have good ideas and ability doesn't mean I don't need a producer to guide the track to its best.

[simon23]

I don't care for the mixing at all, but I think the song will be great live.

[snowfist]

www.instagram.com/p/CR_hmu_Lfo5/?utm_medium=copy_link

New version coming soon!

[nicholassanders]

Some interesting comments Steve made this morning in reply to someone on Instagram on one of Jason’s latest posts, according to him, apparently this song was recorded and written pre-Ozwald without him in reply to those people who kept saying about the Ozwald sound of the song to which I personally don’t hear but I hear more Jason solo stuff with the rest of the band throwing their parts on top to make it a Lifehouse track. And according to Jason, apparently he wrote and produced these songs with Winnie 7 years ago. And from my understanding of it all, I’m speculating that this was definitely an artistic choice on Jason’s part with what he wanted to do with the vocals on the track as I scroll these comments. Thought these comments were interesting to say the least.

[aminta]

Too many effects killed this song to me...It's the first time ever that I could barely listen to the end. It could have been so beautiful. As some of you already said chances are high it will sound much better live... but will we even get a chance to experience that? Not so sure.

[klein]

Jason's reaction to the negative comments on Instagram has been quite embarrassing tbh. He should have not engaged at all once he saw all the bad comments instead of calling people cowards for hiding behind their devices and criticizing (yes, he actually said this).

I think for the most part, people tried to explain quite nicely that while they respect that he can't re-write NNF and needs to move on creatively the fans expected something different, at the very least they expected to hear his voice more. The way they (LH/Jason) responded to some of these comments is extremely childish and frankly disappointing.

[aminta]

^ Agreed... It was painful to watch. In the past something like that would never happen. Looks to me like for some reason he lost touch with reality... Hopefully it's just a temporary issue. It's not what the band thinks, it's only his words. I cannot imagine Ricky or Bryce reacting like this to the fans.

In the end - he did harm to himself and everything he achieved by this behaviour. We'll be fine... I think the fans showed class in this unusual situation, even if some comments sounded harsh.... Things had to be finally said. All these years he stayed away from social media and he was protected from critical comments.

All I can say to this... I can encourage everyone to leave him honest comments to keep him closer to reality. A few days will pass and maybe he will realise what he did. "In the pain there is healing..."
But I'm really proud of us standing strong as fan community.

[Robert]

Took a look at what y’all were talking about and yeah, he was a little bit surprisingly sarcastic which was unexpected. I get how frustrating it must be though, to release something and have negative reactions. I remember during the Winzlo release period J prefaced the songs by saying they’d be hit or miss with fans, but that he loved making them. That was great — I think if they didn’t just randomly drop totally disparate things without bothering to talk about the music at all, but were a bit more hand-holding, their art would be better received and all the negativity around Dragonflies wouldn’t have happened the way it did.

That said, the style is one thing that’s caused a stir, but that’s all preference. It’s another thing to release a song that’s begging for an immersive sound, in freaking mono! It’s so frustrating to want to love something but not be able to enjoy it to its potential because of technical flaws. I wish that they could see that

[Robert]

Crowdsourcing time everyone. What are the lyrics to Dragonflies?
Here’s my translation attempt, please discuss.

Let’s wish the world in half
Close our eyes and breathe
What’s in the silver mine
Is saved from the foundry’s rings
We are safe, we are alone

We build inside the clouds
Far from this broken town
Climb underneath the sun
Always right here and now
Until tomorrow pulls us down

I still remember those eyes
That place with these dragonflies
Those nights would go on and on
They’d seem to last forever
Meet me where the song broke out
Where the sun goes down and the night begins
Run away with me
Let’s run away together

Time started to fly by
And we stopped listening
??
And we are through our dreams (??)
Now we are nomads, we are alone

We are safe, we are alone

[snowfist]

When I first heard Yesterday's Son was when they released their Live in Studio performance on Youtube. Immediately I knew that it will be one of my favs out of OOTW. But after my first listen on the album version, it took me by surprise when the lyrics come in (and not in a good way lol). I absolutely love the instruments the minute I initially listened to it though. To sum up, I was disappointed because I thought that Jason would be as raw as he was on the Live in Studio performance. But right now, it's one of my favs; mainly because of the lyrics and the melody, instruments arrangements etc and probably because I'm already used to the vocal effect.

Now for Dragonflies, Jason announced that he'll do an acoustic/vox version. I'm pretty excited about that. Because the only thing that I'd change is the vocal and the mixing. Though I'm really curious on how I feel about the supposedly stripped version since I listen to the album version first. An opposite case of Yesterday's Son hence the background context lol.

[Shawn]

I've tried playing with an EQ to get clearer vocals to make out the lyrics which did help a little bit but there are certain lines that sort of "weave" into the instrument tracks and it's impossible to tell. I messaged Steve to see if he could share the lyrics since he seems to be the most responsive. One positive thing I will add regarding this track: I really liked hearing that SCF-era guitar effect. Probably my favorite part of the track...



We split the world in half
Close our eyes and breathe
Crawl in the silver lining
Safe from the (founding streets)
We are safe, we are loved

We (hid/build) inside the clouds
Far from this broken town
Hide underneath the (spot)
Always right here and now
Until tomorrow pulled us down

I still remember those eyes
That place with these dragonflies
Those nights would go on and on
They seemed to last forever
Meet me when the (song) road ends
Where the sun goes down and the night begins
Run away with me
Let’s run away together

Times starting to fly by
And we stopped listening
(?)
And we are through our dreams
(?)
We are safe, we are (lone)

I still remember those eyes
That place with these dragonflies
Those nights would go on and on
They seemed to last forever
Meet me when the (song) road ends
Where the sun goes down and the night begins
Run away with me
Let’s run away together