Thirteen Senses - Into The Fire

[Cary Polachek]

I can never resist when someone says: I can't believe nobody has commented on this song.... So here goes my interpretation which naturally carries with it all the baggage that I do. I see this song with the eyes of a Gen-X child in the light of the Age of The Aquarius when many of us will be spiritually enlightened, yet will paradoxically move away from organised religion - where spirituality will take importance and religion fade into history.

This is by no means a happy feel-good song, but I am sure we can all agree that it feels good listening to this song because it stirs some emotion in us. For me, it's catharsis - release of a certain angst. The repetitions of both the lyrics and the melody contribute to the build-up from a somewhat optimistic blind faith to a more resigned anguish and despair - giving voice to our own emotional upheavals, thereby providing a much needed relief.

Come on, come on - Put your hands into the fireExplain, explain - As I turn and meet the power-----> The song title and the first lines make reference to getting into the fire - fire is widely known for purification - from the purification of gold; to sterilising surgical instruments; to banishing evil from witches burned at the stake; and the biblical baptism of fire...etc. The significance of fire for spiritual cleansing is clear when read with the following lines where we seek an explaination for putting our hands into the fire - we do so to turn from our lives, from what we were taught, what we have, what we know - to turn to meet the true power of spirituality - to be one with the higher consciousness.

This time, this time - Turning white and senses dire-----> This time is significant because we have felt fear many times in our lives, but this time, the fear is so great, we turn pale from it. But what fears are so terrifying it turns us white? There comes a time when a soul experiences The Terrors of the Threshold - the terrors being our demons that are holding us within this threshold - limiting our spiritual growth. It is an inner challenge - the test that when we pass, will take us to the next level of spiritual growth. To conquer the Terrors of the Threshold, the soul needs to look at itself honestly in the mirror and confront those fears. One has to re-evaluate his senses, meaning how he used to sense or see the world, and to sense and see world in a different light is to question one's senses, and that's when one's senses are dire.

Pull up, pull up - From one extreme to another-----> Pull up draws the metaphor of a pilot in a plane nose-diving into the ground. From one extreme to another describes how from almost crashing down into the ground, the pilot manages to pull up and soar upwards high into the sky. This resembles a spiritual transition known as The Dark Night of The Soul - when we feel like we have been abandoned by our higher power and we question our own existence and our belief systems. In questioning our beliefs, our faiths may be strengthened - we reinforce what we know in our hearts as true and shed the false pretences and falacies of most religions. If we manage to pull up, if we can figure out what is real and what is not, the soul soars the skies. The dark night occurs to those who do not seek merely a relationship, but full immersion or unity in the higher consciousness, with the higher power.

From the summer to the spring-----> Conventionally, summer is known as a time when flowers are in full bloom - on one level, it describes a soul that sees itself being in full glory - fully grown - but it is only fooling itself since it has much growing to do still - because it thinks it is in its days of glory, forgetting that it is in spring that new growth occurs. On another level, between summer and spring is autumn and winter when death occurs - the death of one's old self is necessary before new growth happens.

From the mountain to the air-----> A mountain is seen as a magnificent indestructable solid structure that is steadfast and strong. Air on the other hand is weightless, can't be seen or held in one's hand, not substantial or solid. Yet the transition to a higher level of faith calls for a move from the mountain to the air - it is not called faith when it is in your face, it is called faith only when you believe in something you cannot see, feel or touch. A mountain is like knowing. Air is like believing. Moving from what you know to what you believe is the mark of true faith. This also coincides with the Terrors of the Threshold - the mountain though solid is limiting, there is only that far you can go on a mountain. The Air on the other hand is limitless - literally, the sky is the limit. Imgaine jumping off a mountain into the air - from stability to nothing - it's not called a leap of faith for nothing. It may bring fear to the bravest of hearts, but the unlimited power of a soul being in the air, as opposed to being on a mountain, is a new level of enlightenment.

From Samaritan to sin-----> This may seem like a deviation from previous verses, but it is not. This is a definite biblical reference - superficially, the Samaritan being good and sin being an act in defiance of God. This is conventional judeao-christianity where it has been taught that going against God is a sin. But on a deeper level, the reference to being a Samaritan is also a reference to following the bible blindly and doing so is obviously wrong, but would not following the bible blindly be an act in defiance against God? Upon greater reflection, is not following the bible blindly an act of defiance to the church or God? Can following religious dogma written by the hands of man used in the early days as a political tool to control the masses be more important that listening to the voice of God now, today, alive and speaking directly to you when you open your heart to Him? Here's where spirituality triumphs over religion.

the lights are dimmer-----> Great darkness comes only in preparation for the great light at the end of the journey. Only through the test of complete darkness can true faith emerge - there is little value in faith that is un-tested. We are nearing the end we were waiting for earlier - for when we have survived the pitch black that can't get any dimmer, the light will break through and great enlightenment will occur.

Am i the only person who knows what "put your hands into the fire" actually means?Well for those who dont know the saying "put your hands into the fire" is synonymus with endurance and is another way of saying "tough it out". I just needed to say that, because it appears there are alot of people who dont know.

Anyway, are we sure it's "Turning white and senses dire"?It's always sounded more like "Turning white and senses dying" to me, because that's how I imagine your senses dying would be like. Fade to white.

Yeah i think so so too, I think its just about how later in life you regret all the stuff you didnt do, and how as time goes on everything changes, and you might never have the chance to do that thing again. And i think its about how he loved someone but never took the chance, so now hes just looking in on her life regreting it all.

Amigos desde la poca estudiantil. Will South (msico) escriba canciones y decidi mostrrselas a su amigo Adam Wilson, este expres que le agradaban las letras y composiciones (Adam estaba en otra banda previamente), ms tarde conocieron a Tom Welham, quin sera, el futuro guitarrista de la banda, y finalmente a Brendan James (batera).Esta banda se form en el verano de 2001 con el nombre original de "Soul Magician", y sacaron el EP "Inside A Healing Mind" de forma independiente en el 2002 bajo el nombre ya mencionado. Ese mismo ao despus de grabar el EP, ellos decidieron que el nombre no reflejaba lo que la banda era en realidad, cambindole el nombre a "Thirteen Senses".

En diciembre de ese mismo ao volvieron a sacar otro EP titulado "No Other Life Is Attractive" bajo su nombre actual "Thirteen senses", y en el 2003 grabaron su material final de forma independiente: un lbum llamado "Falls In The Dark". Para el 2004 firmaron con Vrtigo Records, una divisin de Mercury Records, y bajo esa firma su primer material fue el sencillo "Thru The Glass", luego "Do No Wrong" y en septiembre de ese mismo ao sacaron su sencillo "Into The Fire" junto con el que es considerado su lbum debut "The Invitation".

En enero de 2005 sali relanzado a la venta el lbum "The Invitation" y tambin la versin nueva del sencillo de la cancin "Thru The Glass", y en marzo del mismo ao sali a la venta el sencillo de la cancin "The Salt Wound Routine" y la versin japonesa de "The Invitation", sta tena dos canciones ms: "No Other Life Is Attractive" y "Falling To The Ground" y contena los vdeos de: "Do No Wrong", "Into The Fire", "Thru The Glass" y "The Salt Wound Routine.

Estuvieron grabando gran parte del ao 2006 en su estudio su segundo disco, que estaba programado para salir a la venta el 22 de enero de 2007, pero un repentino cambio de parecer del grupo, pospuso la fecha ya que quitaron una cancin de la lista original para sustituirla por otra, y por fin el 2 de abril de 2007 sacaron a la venta su segundo lbum "Contact".

El 28 de agosto de 2007 anunciaron a travs de su sitio web que haban comenzado a trabajar en su tercer lbum, y entre abril y julio de 2008, ellos publicaron muestras de 8 canciones en versin demo en su pgina oficial de MySpace. Despus de varios meses sin palabra oficial de la banda, el 28 de mayo de 2009, el baterista Brendon James anunci que su tercer lbum est cercano a completarse y que saldr, si todo sale bien, dentro de los prximos 2 a 3 meses.

Pero no fue sino hasta el 16 de marzo de 2010 que la banda empez a dejar escuchar 9 temas completos de su tercer lbum: "Crystal Sounds", va su pgina web oficial: www.thirteensenses.com, y un da despus lo anunciaron en su pgina de MySpace, dijeron que el lbum estar disponible para escucharlo solo por un perodo limitado de tiempo y no dieron detalles de cuando podra salir de forma fsica al mercado.

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