Today’s lab track contains a special bonus: in addition to being a song about science, the music video is made from science.
Animated by Ewan Jones Morris, the video is crafted entirely of cutouts from vintage science journals, encyclopedias, and magazines. Within the spinning, expanding images, he inserted black and white video of the band performing. John Brownlee of Fast Company Design, where I found this gem, describes the video well: “It’s like the dreams you might have after sniffing glue in science class, then passing out facedown in your textbook.”
Meanwhile, the lyrics — the track is by English indie band Fanfarlo — explore the weird idea that we’re each one person made up of millions of little beings, with little interactions and chemical reactions going on without our command or knowledge. It’s off of their new album, Let’s Go Extinct, which is all about human evolution and where we might be going next. And the background of their website is Carl Sagan in the Ship of the Imagination. I think I just became a fan. Enjoy!
Cell Song
FanfarloWe’ve got maps behind our eyes
Lookin’ out at ourselves
Things that grow
Out of the ground
Must one need
Believe it’s realEach little cog
Sticks to the next
How can it be
That they’re alive
This clever twist
This pyramid scheme
Has got you in
A double lifeOut of nothin’ makin’ somethin’ like a cell
Makin’ patterns like the galaxy of cells
This insurrection the consequences gone
I’m glad you made it
Got to make some kind of soulWe have a conjecture we’ve got each other’s backs
We made a promise but one day we’ll fall apartUntil the world gets tired of lookin’ at itself
We have a place
A fighting chance
While the chemicals
Keep up their dance
While the roots
Are diggin’ deep
Tryin’ to suck
The whole place dryOut of nothin’ makin’ somethin’ like a cell
Makin’ patterns like a galaxy of cells
This insurrection the consequences gone
I’m glad you made it
Got to make some kind of soulWe have a conjecture we have each other’s backs
We made a promise but one day we’ll fall apartWe have a conjecture we have each other’s backs
We made a promise but one day we’ll fall apartWe have a conjecture we have each other’s backs
We made a promise but one day we’ll fall apart
This has been another installment of Monday Lab Tracks. Send us your musical recommendations through our contact link at the top of the page, and tell us what you think of the song in the comments below!
