The last single to be released from Greta Van Fleet's sophomore album, (The Battle At Garden's Gate, out April 16th via Lava/Republic) "Broken Bells" is a pure power ballad. Now say that three times fast.
There's almost always a message in each GVF song, that's just the kind of band they are and the music they produce. But this one, it's really screaming out to the world. People are raving over this song and it has not even been released for twenty-four hours at this moment. Loudwire has called it, "their most epic yet". Greta Van Fleet is FINALLY showing us what they are truly capable of. They have allowed themselves to dig deep and create what they are passionate about.
Broken Bells starts off slow, yet already powerful with Josh Kiszka's sweet and pure vocals that sing, "I can see the faces through the broken glass, no longer pass". The few subtle notes that Jake Kiszka is playing on guitar are a nice way to ease you into the song. The chorus is what anchors you in, "I never want to fall asleep, within our dreams the weight we saw, we reap". However in such a deeply serious, yet cultivating song, there is hope. "Though I believe the sun still shines and I believe there comes a time, when out of silence we will sing, and even broken bells will ring. Not all the answers are the same, yet we still play the game." Bassist Sam Kiszka said in a statement according to Rolling Stone, "Our intention is to remove the obligation of generational synthetic expectations, break down these walls and not build new ones."
Jake totally takes the song over right in the middle of it with his super-smooth sounding guitar solo, exploring what he's capable of in creating what he can do with the guitar. This is where I was able to get lost in the music, the beautiful essence of it as well as Josh's vocals, an organ going full-blast by Sam Kiszka, Daniel Wagner creating the perfect beat. The outro of the guitar solo is where the song peaks and I can already see the live performance and Jake smiling because he's proud of himself for what he's crafted.
What I've personally taken from the song and what's sticking with me already is, the beginning of the chorus could reflect the culture shock all four boys had when they were thrown out into the world from a small town of Frankenmuth, Michigan - seeing people in poverty, homeless, people begging for money and food. "And even broken bells will ring" is a message of hope for everyone. "Not all the answers are the same" for me, is saying that not everyone has the same lifestyle, the same opinions, the same path, etc. yet to counteract that is "Yet we still play the game", could mean either though life is tough, the world is cruel, society has turned the world into monsters and against each other, we still are humans, we still are here and we still are living and pushing through. Or it could be yet nothing ever changes within society. We're still playing the same game we always have. Whichever way you look at it, I think it's beautiful.
With this being the last (and possibly most powerful song on the album yet) there will be a music video shortly following as well, possibly even tying all four music videos together in some way.
The band's Creative Director, Matthew Daniel Siskin has helped them create websites for each single and the album itself. So the Broken Bells website is already dropping hints as to what's going to happen in the music video...
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