Exploded Stars and Space Debris

The Faint “Machine In The Ghost” – The Faint are at their best when they side-step rock music, and simply imply rock dynamics with their synthesizers and programming. “Machine In The Ghost” is bouncy and lithe, and the arrangement conveys a coy, non-committal tone that suits the lyrics rather well. If I’m understanding them in this song, I reckon that their stance on understanding the universe is similar to my own: We can’t understand the universe. We can pick it apart with science and glean some insight into how things work, and that will only get us one step closer to knowing the unknowable. The band’s insistence that we are not privy to the answers of the great cosmic mysteries is open-minded and humble, but they can’t help but seem a bit smug when they run down a list of people who devote their lives to explaining the world and what may lie beyond it, all with the implication that their efforts are largely futile. They don’t outright dismiss all of these people, but even in a sideways, passive-aggressive sort of way, they are expressing some contempt for their hubris. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)