Like It’s The Last Hello

Stone Temple Pilots “And So I Know”

Even in the context of Tiny Music…Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop, an album in which the Stone Temple Pilots used the leverage of the major success of their first two albums to indulge their muses, “And So I Know” is a major outlier. It’s a gentle lounge ballad built upon guitars that sound like sunlight shimmering on swimming pool water with everything else in the mix seeming to float around aimlessly like inflatable pool furniture. Scott Weiland sings a lot of cryptically fatalistic lyrics but sounds totally at peace here, emphasizing the prettiest and most elegant parts of his voice and embracing lounge singer irony just enough so that his performance comes through as a charming wink rather than a smarmy grin. (Even with the creepy “campfire girls make me feel alright” refrain!)

The most remarkable thing about “And So I Know” is the low-key but highly expressive lead guitar part that comes in over the middle eight. I’m not sure whether this is Dean or Robert DeLeo playing – I suspect it’s the former, though Robert is the primary author of the song and also plays bass, vibraphone, and electric harpsichord on the track. It’s a gorgeous solo based in the main melodic themes of the piece while elaborating on the emotion conveyed in Weiland’s vocal. It feels as though the song itself is giving up on trying to convey its feeling through his words, like it’s recognizing the limitations of phrases like “never ever be this way again” and just pushing you to ~feel~ this reluctant but gracious acceptance of loss and futility.

Buy it from Amazon.