Project Description

ENTER SHIKARI
‘Nothing is True & Everything is Possible’
(Album Review)

Reviewer: Laura Hughes

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Enter Shikari has always been a band that has never been defined by genre. With seventeen years of being a band, nothing seems to be too far of a reach for these, especially with the genius mind of frontman and visionary Rou Reynolds.

With a new decade at our front door, it’s only fitting to have a new era of Enter Shikari. Nothing is True & Everything is Possible is about possibility, the unnerving irony of endless possibility, which led the band questioning what they can achieve as the world questions “what is possible?”.

“Looking at all we had achieved, gave us a better sense of perspective and confidence……. What are we capable of? What is possible? These questions are part of Shikari’s DNA. But now we reflect a society where possibility itself has drifted from something of optimistic opportunity to something quite frightening” states Reynolds. 

Nothing is True & Everything is Possible could quite possibly be an album for the history books. It is an album that seems the combine everything that is amazing about Enter Shikari and more with a nice bow placed on top. It is a present that speaks volumes and it proves that nothing is short of possible.

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‘The Great Unknown’ begins with a haunting melodic piano piece, that jolts up your heart rate in anticipation. The tone switches to a more electronic beat, with piano piece turning into a more high pitched pad-like sound, with fuzzy effects and a solid drum beat that drives the song home. However, this song is far from just being a musical masterpiece, it delves into the depth of mental health, expresses fear and helplessness. “Is there anyone out there? I shout into the great unknown” packs a punch and clearly places all cards on the table when it comes to doubt. From the perspective of British health care, NHS, this statement rings true for many patients waiting for help with their mental health. With their system crumbling, people are left to wonder is there anyone out there to help them before it’s too late?

‘Crossing The Rubicon’ picks up the pace with a more energetic and lighthearted sound. With pop synths and thumping baselines that push an almost dance-like pulse to this song. Despite the melodies that sing sunshine, there is always more to an Enter Shikari song than what meets the eye. Conveying feelings of depression, of being a paralysed and no matter how many times you try to find a way out, you’re stuck in a labyrinth. The song title itself also has a deeper meaning, crossing the rubicon falls back to 49 BC, when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon river during the Roman Civil War, which led him to become a dictator and the rise of the imperial Roman era. That simple relation in the song provides a feed of hope, saying that better days are waiting for you. The lyrics that speak to me a lot in this track are “try again, fail again, fail better”, which is kind of beautiful to hear in my perspective. 

‘{ The Dreamer’s Hotel }’ switches energy, delving into anarchy and uprise, with a harsher and more solid tone, one that just kicks you in the chest, bringing in a new element that is away from the poppy dance sounding tracks from before. It’s about fury and displacement; expressing the state that the world is in because no one is trusting of each other anymore. The use of the words “Dreamer’s Hotel” is kind of used in a sense of a place to escape from the fury, where you can dream about wanting a better society, and how you think you can make it better. However, the in the lyrics “five stars but all rooms are vacant” delves into a deeper meaning of how everybody is too busy being angry at each other to even in a sense use the rooms, or take a break and step away from it to think about what is going on. It’s pretty powerful stuff when reading in between the lines.

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‘Waltzing off the Face of the Earth (I. Crescendo)’ starts with a ‘welcome to the circus’ type of sound, with horn instruments playing and deep fuzzy bass that marks to beat, dragging you into this illusion like feeling, painting a picture of being a kid entering the tent of the circus for the first time. With the ringmaster luring you inside with words that sound tempting, but also very bleak. It has a sense of trouble and despair, making it far from welcoming. It’s very sinister, as the song itself is about the precariousness of truth in an age of mass deceit. “Our future’s been denied and there’s nowhere to hide”, drifts into territory of where politicians and older generations in a sense have taken away our future and are slowly destroying the Earth. Dismissing that climate change is true, focusing on wealth and power as people below them suffer. Our TV screens are filled with shootings of innocent people, of war and famine, but the rich stay seated on their throne preaching that they know better than we do, letting our generation be drowned out, and in a sense thrown to the wolves. This a cry for change, a cry for help, but only to have the rug pulled out from under us.  

‘Modern Living …’ takes to a more lighter note, well music-wise, with synths and production effects that preach a more lively and happier undertone. However, as we know there is always more than what scratches the surface. With our faces that we post on social media have filters applied, painting a picture of a perfect life, but underneath there is always more than what meets the eye. The idea behind that the younger generation has learned to expect the worse, and would watch the world turn to stone with martini’s in our hand as if our life crumbling in front of us is some sort of movie that we could find on Netflix. “We’re Apocaholics drinking gin and tonics, lying in the flowers counting down the hours” is my favourite line, as it pokes fun at ourselves in a way, because everything setback feels like the end of the world, and as I said before we could watch the world end right in front of us with a drink in one hand as if this is assuming because, to be honest, this is what we’ve expected all along. 

‘Apøcaholics Anonymøus (Main Theme in B Minor)’ follows on from the previous track, following the theme of being apocaholics, where is a play on words about those who are addicted to the apocalypse. It is a word coined a lot throughout this album, the idea that we are a generation who are just waiting on the edge of our seats waiting for it to happen; cracking jokes about what is next in store for us, waiting to see if it comes true for kicks. It’s almost laughable to think of ourselves being that cynical that we get thrills about the end of the world happening. The word is cleverly placed and remains true, we are all a bunch of apocaholics.

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‘The Pressure’s on’ begins with light synth and padded piano melody. It has a pulse that brings up a lighter mood, especially with Rou vocals being light and airy, bringing a new set of emotions into the album. It feels like a very personal track that is placed into the album. It dives into the fear of disappointing your peers, that you feel this pressure that comes at your from society, or ever the people around you. About figuring yourself out and having a plan. Making a life for yourself, even though you are not quite sure what that is yet. The pressure of being successful, of having a career, being married and having a family by a certain age, all of that to be deemed socially acceptable by everyone around you. It causes feelings of fear and anxiety because what if your timeline is off, that you’re life isn’t going as planned because truth be told you don’t know what you want. I deeply connect with this track, since I’ve only just started my degree at 22 as most of my friends have already finished theirs, and only now slowly figuring out what I want to do, and knowing that it won’t be until I’m 30 that my life will be sorted out. Anxiety is a bubble that pushes you into despair. Maybe it’s okay not to have your life figured out because maybe there is more to it than what is deemed to be socially acceptable. 

‘Reprise 3’ is a short interlude, which breaks up the structure of album really nicely. It is also a great way to introduce new themes and elements into the album. The chords used in this interlude are known in their previous songs from other albums ‘Common Dreads’ (2009) and ‘A Flash of Colour’ (2012). It brings back a feeling of nostalgia for long time fans. 

’T.I.N.A’ begins with electronic Arabian mode beings played, which breaks it away from the normal or more well-known modes used in contemporary western music. Another element added to the music is a strong beat that sets in their well-known rock elements of their musical discography. This song has more of a heavy drive compared to the first half of the album. T.I.N.A stands for There Is No Alternative, which is introduced at the start of the song. Rou made a statement about ’T.I.N.A’ being closely linked to the song ‘The Great Unknown’ which is the first track off of this album, which is about the stunting of thought. This track continues and builds on the idea and concept placed in ‘The Great Unknown’ but delivered with a new perspective and a harder drive behind it.

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‘Elegy For Extinction’ is a musical interlude, which as discussed before is a great way to bring new concepts and sounds into the album. Interludes are also a great way to tell a story without any lyrics, just purely music. You feel yourself focusing more on the instrumentation, the layering and elements used to provoke each feeling conveyed. It drives home the idea that music connects with your soul. Sometimes words are not always needed to tell a story or to convey a feeling. This song speaks volumes on its own without lyrics being added to it. It has grandiose orchestrated elements being added, which can build up a heavy and sinister mood, conveying the feeling of drowning and destruction; and it also describes an airy lighthearted mood where everything seems to serene and beautiful. It’s a brilliant concept being brought into this album, as it holds just as much emotion, if not more. 

‘Marionettes (I. The Discovery Of Strings)’ has a lot of elements being thrown into this song, with the being sounding like it from an old western film. There are also heavy electronic dance music elements added, which tears you away from the previous concept that started out in the song. There are massive build-ups and beat drops, moments where the rhythm rushes and then pulls back. It is a whirlwind of feelings, where you can’t seem to pin down one emotion, as the track is ever-evolving and moving. When you feel you have grasped onto a feeling, it is quickly torn away from you, bringing in a new intensity that you didn’t think was possible. The idea behind marionette’s that they are puppets that you can jerk and make them do whatever you want, I get that feeling from this track, where one moment you think you feeling this way or going down this route before you are quickly pulled away from it and made to do something else. Bringing a new light to the phrase ‘pulling on your strings’.

‘Marionettes (II. The Ascent)’ continues from the previous track, but taking a different route. Instead of having a whirlwind of emotions to catch up with, it sticks to a storyline. The idea of the marionettes gaining their own conscious, and breaking away from their master and creating their own storyline. The idea of breaking free from a chain of society, and finding our own freedom. It also sheds like on the phrase “truth hurts” but brings in a new notion that “truth frees”. At the start, truth may feel like a bitter pill swallow, how the truth isn’t always what we think it is, but also learning that the truth can set us free. The turning cogs in society and how the world works can be such a shock to our reality, but you can use that to your advantage, because you are no longer feeding into the deception, and you see it all clearly for yourself, and now you can make your own judgements instead of being a puppet, waiting for someone else to make their minds up for them. 

‘Satellites* *’ starts with an atmospheric dream-like state, with a string and horn section that brings in a new element, which was introduced in one of the interludes. It feels very sci-fi like, as you would expect from the title. This song Rou has compared to ‘Crossing the Rubicon’, the second track off this album. This track deals with a lot of complicated emotions, many have connotations towards the LGBTQ+ community, especially with the lyrics “I don’t like the limelight, so we don’t hold hands in daylight. I still drag the closet all my limbs, they ache inside” which is pretty self-explanatory when you think about. It breathes a lighter air into the heavy emotion that is displayed. The idea of still having to hide who they are, and the mental health aspects of being afraid to show affection towards their partner because of the social ignorance, which is still unfortunately around. It displays the feelings of anxiety and excitement of falling in love and the complexity that does fall inside the queer community. 

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‘Thē Kĭñg’ is a very upbeat song, with elements of older era’s of Enter Shikari coming into play, as well as bringing in newer elements, so create a new cohesive sound that we’ve come to love. This song explores the aspects of revenge, and well just how silly it can get at the end of the day. Revenge has a ridiculous nature surrounding it, where you think that getting even will fix the idea of yourself in the situation when in reality when does retaliation ever work in your favour? It also explores the emotions and thoughts that goes behind the idea of revenge such as pride and shame. What it all really boils down to is the silliness of revenge, and this song pokes more fun at it then taking it to heart.

The final track off this album is ‘Waltzing off the Face of the Earth (II. Piangevole)’, which brings a beautifully orchestrated song, laced with different musical elements and concepts, bringing a sense of hope into the end of the album. The lyrics are very minimal and leaves the ending of the album entirely up to you to interpret. Is it a bleak ending? Or does it bring a light of a new beginning? The song itself doesn’t feel very concluded, leaving the ending open-ended. It feels like to me that it is ‘to be continued’, where you’re left hanging in the lightness of it all. This song feels like an open window with the light streaming into your soul, and it’s up to you what you make of it. 

‘Nothing is True & Everything is Possible’ is a lucid soundtrack to this new era and decade. It holds everything will love about Enter Shikari, but of course, brings in new surprises. It explores deep topics and a lot of the songs are very thought-provoking. By looking in between the lines of every lyric you can find a deeper meaning than what is laying on the surface. You can break down the musical elements and find how they all separately bring their own piece to the puzzle of storytelling. This album opens up a conversation about everything that is going on in the world, and couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. This album is truly a musical masterpiece. 

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AMNPLIFY – DB