I’m not implying that the new one from Nathaniel Paul is political; his songs seem more universal, more general, and certainly more tastefully tailored than that, but the idea at its core certainly resonates in these dark times.
Summed up by the phrase, “I know how bad it is out there, when I think about how great it could be” and inspired in part by the loss of his own father, the song tackles themes of missed opportunity, the death of idealistic thought and the gulf between the world we could have built for ourselves as compared with the one that we currently find ourselves in.
As usual, he couples these poignant, powerful ideas with the most delicate and dexterous music: a blend of finessed folk and dreampop, Beach Boy-esque vocalscapes, and understated sounds, a place of chiming guitars and liquid sonics, a lack of urgency and pastel beauty. It’s a song that flows gently rather than driving you to the conclusion he intends…but Nathaniel Paul’s deftness is such that you can’t help but find yourself dreaming of what might have been if things had been different, both in the minutiae of our own lives and the bigger picture.
‘King’s Grave’ is a many-layered song, not just musically but because of the number of lyrical levels it works on. It reminds us of the Butterfly Effect, of how a few different choices at the ground level could have resulted in a very different world; it reminds us also that the world can feel very different because of those no longer in it, those guiding lights whose illumination we always sought out, and it tells us that the world is the way it is not just because of the things we do, but also because of the things we fail to do.
And even if the world around us doesn’t match our expectations, we still have each other, and that small group of loved ones we are bound to through connection, empathy, and love is the only one we really need. Don’t you think?
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