The House of Stone and Light - A JJ2 post
Greetings fellow human! This communication is brought to you by Shua Part 2: Electric Boogaloo, and today, I present a relatively wacky Wednesday!
I thought it would be fun to look at something different than the usual 'Caveman screaming into a cavern while banging a stick on a rock' death metal I usually love to talk about ("Tropical sun" - Fulci if you really want one ).
Today's tune is "In The House Of Stone And Light" by Martin Page.
My first reaction to this song was something along the lines of "What kind of knock-off Disney montage music is this?" and honestly, the verse sections of the song sound like they are straight out of a Disney scene. It's gentle, positive, uplifting and adventurous, which is great for easy listening, but there are subtle hints of intrigue that appear through the song. A weird high-pitched flute connecting two verses, a weird 6/8 time signature with drums that accent the groove in a very interesting way (and have a really great sound for this kind of music), and heavily poetic lyrics that you honestly don't expect from a song that sounds like this.
All of these elements form to a crescendo at exactly 2:13. I've been listening to this song obsessively over the past week and I still find it hard to describe this part or why I love it so damn much. The melody, vocalized by the singer and accented with the rhythm guitar, is such a stark tonal contrast to the rest of the song. It feels like a pivotal spiritual moment experienced by the main character of the story, and judging by the lyrical themes in the song, I wouldn't be too surprised if this is what is represented here. The mood in this part feels like a transition from contentment to enlightenment; as cheesy as that is, I struggle to find other ways to describe it.
Looking at the lyrics of the song, we can start to uncover the theme of the song. The song begins with:
It sounds like our character is struggling with their history, and is going a place to try to find some kind of inner peace. I didn't know this earlier, but I found that Mount Kailas is a real mountain in China and is considered sacred in several religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. Religious people go on pilgrimages to this mountain for spiritual reasons, and it is one of the oldest mountainous pilgrimage locations in the world.
At 2:13 when we reach the tonal shift in the song, we only get a single line (aside from the vocalizations for the melody):
"Looking in beneath my skin"
It seems like the character is able to find what he was looking for, whether that be purification or soul searching.
After this, the song returns as it was until 3:30 where it is played again, less of a shock, but still as emotionally impactful. The song slowly fades to a close with the repeated lyrics:
"In the house of stone and light
I must go there, to find my soul, yeah"
I find music with emphasized spiritual and religious elements fascinating; it's like a really cool exploration of culture and human nature, which is always really fun! I never expected that from a song that sounded like it belonged in Tarzan or something lol. By the way, I discovered this song at Lamb's Fresh Market down the street, you never truly know when you're going to find incredible music. I hope you enjoy this week's WMW, it was a lot of fun to dive deep into this song that had literally only a one in a brazillion chance of entering my ear holes to begin with. 🙂
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