Slow Motion Apocalypse
A Tragic Love Story at the End of the World
Order Telos on CD! | Buy on Bandcamp! | Buy on Patreon!
DOWNLOAD/STREAM
CREDITS
Songs mastered by Matt Denton of Ragged Birds Music
Guitar solo by TJ Gerome from Eyes of Ghosts | Eyes of Ghosts on YouTube
Additional guitars by Dave Hulegaard from Twelve Days in June
Drums/percussive soundscapes by Adam Soucy
Bass by Dustin Derry
Guitars & organ: Trouble
Key: Dm | BPM: 100, 4/4 time
Mood: Dark, gothic, '90s vibes, poignant, desolate, apocalyptic, doomed, intense
Lyrics
It's witchy weather
Late September skies
You and I
Leave these LA lights behind
Arizona sunset in my rearview mirror and I
Am singing lullabies about these hard times
CHORUS
We were fools, I guess; they said:
"We'll be resurrected when the world ends"
They can't threaten us with hell
'Cause we've already been and
The city lights seem so bright now
Nothing will be all right now
It's a slow motion apocalypse
It wasn't supposed to end like this
Ain't seen a soul
Since a Tuesday in October
Of last year
At least, not one I recognized
Reaper's riding shotgun on this lonely ride
Another hundred miles and I can rest my eyes
Selective mercy
No one talked them off the ledge
Left them unsupervised
The rest of us pay the price
The city lights shone brightly in your eyes
And I
Haven't been the same since
©2022 Pretty 'N' Genius Music, BMI, All Rights Reserved.
BEHIND THE MUSIC
Slow Motion Apocalypse
"It's witchy weather, late September skies..."
It's moody imagery that could have gone in a lot of different directions from this line, and, when I wrote this in the late summer of 2022, I actually had about 4 different versions of the first verse: one reveling in the witchy aura of autumn; another, a dark love song. But when I got to the chorus melody, I was randomly singing along lines to get the tune down, and I realized I was singing a story about lovers trying to escape the end of the world.
I can still see the scenes in my mind: having let billionaires have their way with the world, humanity faces the worst case scenario of a climate catastrophe. Cities and towns are burning. Fields are fallow, dry, and blowing away. It hasn't rained in recent memory. Decembers feel like Octobers; Aprils feel like Julys.
And in the midst of this setting, a couple - maybe romantic, maybe not - were fleeing the city. Things had gotten too bad to stay. The story is told by the driver, who is heading east. It looks like a sunset behind her, but it's smoke and fire and destruction lighting up the horizon... possibly a nuclear device or some other kind of bomb, but it's definitely not safe to stay. She's desperately trying to get far enough away to have a few more minutes of peace with the car's passenger before they, too, meet their end.
Read More