Singled Out: Glass Lungs

Glass Lungs are releasing their brand new album "Impermanence" on Friday (June 29th) and to celebrate we asked Chad Henson to tell us about the song "Acquiesce". Here is the story:

It's fitting that this is the opener on our first album because it's been with us basically since the band's Inception. It was one of the first songs I wrote lyrics and vocals for and one of the first songs we worked on together. It encapsulates a lot of the central themes that the album deals with and I think it probably is the most aggressive in terms of its kind of "call to action" message, though I suppose it's more of a call to a "changing of ideals" or "changing of attitudes".

The writing process started like most of the songs. One day I was sitting on my bed in my apartment, just struggling with finding something to say and I had the news on. This was around the time of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. I was watching that and I thought "that's something I need to talk about, or I need to somehow use the emotion I felt from seeing all of that play out live". It was further compounded by visiting Columbus Square, where a huge demonstration was taking place just a short time after. I don't know how many people attended but there was a massive crowd. It was really intense but also extremely quiet. One of those, I guess, deafening silences. I felt like I had to talk about it, maybe not directly, but just address the state of the world at that point.

The song itself is mainly about not letting yourself fall into a kind of dark pit of cynicism and despair. A few of the songs on the album deal with that, or at least the struggle of trying to fight back emotionally at times when you feel most helpless.

Honestly, I'll be the first one to say I don't have all the answers. I don't know what the f*** I'm talking about most of the time. It's more or less just like I said before. A call to not rest on your laurels and the realization that your ideas can be seeds that can grow into something and potentially change your situation. It's not that I'm outright telling anyone to do any one thing in particular. The very last line in the song if you can make it out is kind of like a scream into the void. "Don't let this burn away". That's what it's about. A change of mindset. A pleading voice screaming into the night "we don't have to let the anger, the violence, the hatred, the atrocities that plague human civilization as a whole, we don't have to let that sh*t rule over us". Flipping a switch, changing an outlook that has the potential to carve out these new paths for us as a people. Being that it was one of the first songs I worked on I guess I was kind of shooting for a grand message. But it felt right and it ended up becoming one of my favorites on the album.

It's such a good opener energy-wise as well. When that chorus kicks in it still gives me goosebumps. It's a song that, as I mentioned earlier, has been with the band for a while, so it's changed over time, evolved, some things added, altered or discarded. But I think it's a stronger song because of that and I'm glad it's it's stuck around.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!

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