(the first 14 seconds or so are quiet, so be patient – or turn it up!)

a billion words ago
the sailors disappeared
a story for the children
to rock them back to sleep

tonight we light the fires
we call our ships to port
tonight we walk on water
and tomorrow we’ll be gone 

a billion words ago
they sang a song of leaving
an echo from the chorus
will call them back again

It’s nearly midnight, and the wind is bitterly cold – yet the entire population of a small arctic fishing village stands in a line along the shore, facing outwards into the frigid bay. Wrapped in animal skins and furs, the children watch intently as an old woman stands before the congregation, raising her mittens, her breath puffing out in tiny clouds lost amongst the sparse snowfall.

She tells the story that they’ve all heard on the same night every year – none alive remember, but all imagine the sailors guiding their proud ships out of the harbor and outwards towards the ocean, never again to return. As she finishes her story, she steps back and joins the line of villagers. In her hands she holds a small box of matches and a expertly folded paper boat, coated in wax. She removes one of her mittens, and, with numb fingers, lights a match. Fumbling, she manages to light the edge of the paper sail before the match is extinguished in the wind – immediately, the people on either side of her edge closer, to tip their own paper boats against hers, spreading the flame one by one down the line. As the fire spreads, the woman carefully walks to the place where the icy waves lap ceaselessly against the pebbles of the beach, and sets her sputtering boat afloat, watching as her friends and family do the same.

When all the boats have been launched, everyone watches the ragged ‘V’ sail outwards, towards the darkness. Everyone quietly hums an old hymn as they wait for the long-promised return of the sailors they lost so many years ago – hoping against all odds that their lost fellows will let the flambeaux armada guide them back home.

I’m not sure if I read a folk story along these lines somewhere, but that’s what this song sounds like to me. There’s some interesting imagery used in the lyrics: “a billion words ago”, “a million burning books”, “a fabric of ideals to decorate our homes”, “a mountain of mistakes for us to climb for pleasure”, “a hundred clocks are ticking”, and of course the chilling: “a billion words ago they sang a song of leaving. an echo from the chorus will call them back again”.

Fire seems to figure heavily in the verses, as well as the final chorus: “tonight we light the fires, we call our ships to port. tonight we walk on water and tomorrow we’ll be gone”. It creates an almost tactile environment for the song to take place in (helped by the album title, ‘Northern Lights’) of cold wind, snow drifts, icey water, and guttering flames.

This song has its apex at the final chorus (3:51) – throughout the song, the melody has stayed low, and at this point it nearly jumps an octave, until the lead singer’s voice echoes the sustained synth lines that were carrying the song along up to that point.

The instrumentation is driving and keeps things saturated, with only a couple of breaks around 1:47 and 2:17. The bass synth almost steps in to shore up the percussion (a single kick drum) and keeps a sort of rolling beat that carries everything along, and the ghostly higher synths float above, keeping things interesting while you wait for the next verse to start.

This is quite possibly my favorite track on this album, although Northern Lights is full of good ones. If you’re into this kind of music, Covenant has put out a couple of albums that I’d recommend: Northen Lights and Skyshaper.