Breezeblocks

Muscle to muscle and toe to toe - this seems like they are dancing or having sex.

at first I loved this song but i was severely creeped out by the lyrics. you opened my eyes to how meaningful they are. thank you. xx.

Great interpretation. Best i've seen thus far. The only part I disagree with is the "muscle to muscle and toe to toe" part. This is definitely some kind of two-person interaction. Perhaps rape, but metaphorically. Just as the breeze blocks are a metaphor.

I LOVE this interpretation!! Thank you!

I agree with the others, I like your interpretation a lot. This is the first song by Alt-J I've ever heard so I can't really say anything about their usual style, but I think it would be terribly plumb to talk about cannibalism so outrightly. As for the part about the Wild Things, that is a reference to Maurice Sendak's children's book "Where The Wild Things Go", 'please don't go, I'll eat you whole, I love you so' is very similar to a famous line from the book, "Please don't go, we'll eat you uo, we love you so."

I believe this poem/song is also referring to an abusive relationship. He WANTS to hold her down (with soggy clothes and breezeblocks), and he is justifying his abuse with how much he loves her (I love you so, I'll eat you whole). He is stifling her to keep her as his own, and he has no intention of letting her go. She is miserable (break down now weep) but they go on pretending as though nothing is wrong (build up breakfast now lets eat). In Alt-J's allusion to "Where the Wild Things are" by Maurice Sendak, the lyrics play on the quote from the book "please don't go, we'll eat you up, we love you so!" The man in this song is showing his love and affection by "gnashing his terrible teeth" and "showing his terrible claws" and condoning it with "I love you so, I love you so." He is addicted to her yes, definitely. He is keeping her, the woman he is addicted to (which is equated with love in this song) by diminishing her: "she may contain the urge to run away/ but hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks."

@Gabinlove@Gabinlove Totally agree, I love your interpretation but the part you say 'he'd rather have her lifeless (not literally)' I think he literally rather have her lifeless than loosing her forever. And the part he says hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks, I think he's thinking about killing her If he can't hold her down. It was just that, I agree in everything else. And once again, I love your interpretation!

@Gabinlove I think if you watch the film clip for it you'll change your mind on how literal they were about breezeblocks.

@Gabinlove@Gabinlove YEAH! Somebody that gets it. Thanks for breaking it down to these ppl. I love this song. I listen to it over n over when I need a therapeutic cry.... (I was the guy and my hubby was the chick that was over us) nobody I know listens to alt j, its nice to read these things since I can't conversate about music with my actual friends. Have you heard patient 113 awake to you? That's a good one. Its what led me to listen to alt j on YouTube...

@Gabinlove Adding on to what you said, since Where The Wild Things Go's line is a big deal in this song and the fact that its a children's book, maybe the cinder blocks he is holding her down with is the child she is impregnated with? Germaline disinfect the scene, I think she might have had an abortion and she's trying to cover up the fact that she did it.

@Gabinlove Ahhhh, I think you're really on to something. A couple things that you might consider instead:<br /> Muscle to Muscle toe to toe ---> This sounds like facing off to a fight. So, maybe this is where the dysfunction in their relationship is? They get ugly and go toe to toe with each other.<br /> Let's eat my love ---> I don't think he is referencing her. As in, he's not calling her his love. He's talking about, let's eat my heart out. Let's kill my love for you so I can stop all of this. Think towards the end of the song when he begs her to "Please break my heart."<br /> Anyways, I like your take on the song. Let me know what you think of my notes. Later

@Gabinlove Love I know this is from a while ago but this interpretation! I never could break down even literature to save my life but you nailed it here!! Love this song!

@Gabinlove obviously something is holding her down. I love this song, and tour interpretation is spot on though I would say this reminds me of a rmabusive relationship I was in I started getting high w him cuz it was do or leave I wasn't ready to but her praying to leave while he sleeps and the husky dark dark almost dangerous sound to the song I'm going to argue something dangerous or harmful that he may enjoy is holding her there. The end with please break my heart he is starting to want to break away from that too. I will kind of argue drug addicted abusive relationship cuz of certain things I remember like using antihistamines to subdue withdrawal, germiline when I missed a shot all staples to long term use and had an infection. Hard thing about songs is love and addiction are so similar but different spectrums. Love this song but gives me a sense of dread.

i was told that in martial arts when you're "toe to toe" you're fighting...you do this to keep them close enough to make contact when you go to hit or punch

@Gabinlove Right on, right on, right on! I am always impressed when individuals love a band and/or a song enough to take the time you (obviously!) took to post an interpretation that sets the rest of them right. Thank you, you mos def hit the nail on the head. <3

Never thought that someone would have an obsessive love ;) :)

all I see is love like a sexual canibalistic tradition of treating each and every part of a lover's body part like a cannibal but one who is inloved. Did you know that some afrikans have the tradion of eating their loved one. This is how I see it, just evolving physicaly, and I'm thinking just about exchanging fluids and treating eachother like dinner. I don't like that...It's disgusting to my bone marrow, phew...

Definitely makes sense when you read the book or watch the movie

Wow, I never realised it was literally about Maurice Sendak's novel. I mean I knew it contained a reference. I was always under the belief it was about a domestic relationship gone sour ending in deadly consequences. And I'm not just interpreting from the video either but actually the lyrics. <br /> <br /> In other words, it sounds like someone is paranoid of losing his 'soulmate' who feels domesticity isn't all it is. So when she lashes out at him.. in a streak of paranoia, he begs her to stay only to end up murdering her in the end. <br /> <br /> Germanine, disinfect the scene.. <br /> <br /> I've always looked at that line as the moment he realizes what he's done and he's trying to clean up his tracks, essentially. The ending stanzas..<br /> <br /> Please don't go! Please don't go! Please break my heart!!<br /> <br /> ...was basically him remembering the fallout after all was said and done.<br /> <br /> So I agree with the obsessive love. But I feel it ended in deadly consequences. In other words, domestic violence gone wrong.

I agree with you 100%. Everyone else here is just missing the whole point of it all.

Exactly my thoughts. <br /> <br /> Been a long while since i stumbled upon an entire album i enjoyed this much, and little details like the reference to where the wild things are just keep piling up, i feel, much to my delight.<br /> <br /> With music like this to colour it, I really think this world can be beautiful.

I completely agree with this suggestion. This song is definitely about drug addiction. I believe that the reference to 'murder' in the video has more to do with the 'romance' with drugs. How when someone is addicted, they can hold the ones they love as a hostage. I believe the reference to holding her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks has more to do with the weight of the 'hit' and the intense rapture that follows.<br /> <br /> Withdrawals are akin to murder. In order to successfully kick the habit, one must destroy the desire. So the video depicts the murder of the 'habit' , not a jealous woman. <br /> <br /> The reason I believe this is the reference to where the wild things are. Where the monsters chanted please don't go, I'll eat you whole. Everything in the woods was fine as long as you 'played by the rules that don't exist' . So the lyric relates to the love affair with a drug (probably heroine) and the desire to kick. <br /> <br /> The reference to knowing "where the wild thing go...they go away to take your honey" refers to that hit, and coming off. The wild things go away as the hit dies. They go away to take your honey...or when the hit dies, things get decidedly sour.<br /> <br /> I don't know, it's just my guess. I LOVE this song though, and it is DARK, regardless of what it actually turns out to be about!

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While this is definitely a valid interpretation, I think this is much more of a stretch than a human relationship interpretation. Some of the things you've mentioned do fit with the drug idea, but they also fit just as well with the relationship idea. It's common for people to assume drugs are the meaning of a song when the song seems abstract, but this is actually not the case most of the time, despite what many people seem to think.