Yes, I find it more mature, more clear. It's hard for me to explain it in English, but I think that in Afterglow, the songs are easy to understand and less obscure. At the beginning of her career, some of her lyrics were more mysterious, like if she was hidding behind the words she sang.Islandflyer wrote:It's interesting that you speak of the later records as "more mature". I have really been impressed with the depth of the songs on FTE, and I don't see more maturity in Afterglow, say, as opposed to FTE. Rather, it seems she explores in greater detail, or from a different direction, the basic themes she has written about before. Some of the songs on the former (Elsewhere, Plenty) explore the adolescent phase of life, and on Afterglow she explores issues one encounters later in life (Time, Trainwreck, etc), but I see a similar intense focus on the emotional impact and the fallout from these experiences. The "observational" songs like Ice, and perhaps Wait, seem to come from such a personal place, even though, as she said about "Ice", it was one she had never actually been in. How she can capture the experience so perfectly, with such beautiful music, is amazing. Especially at such a young age.
And then there is that sense of mystery, of unknown stories, she has evoked so well, in so many songs. I think we left out Surfacing entirely here. That's a whole other story, isn't it?
To me, many of her earlier songs were some kind of masks and after Surfacing, I think it changed. Even if her songs are not autobiographical, the stories they tell are really honest.
For example, maybe the lyrics of Stupid are less poetic compared to the lyrics of Black, but they're raw and I like that.
Oh well, I don't know, I'm trying to explain how I see things, but even when I read what I wrote, I don't understand!
