Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading - The Dear Hunter
Track List:
The Death and the Berth
The Procession
The Lake and the River
The Oracles on the Delphi Express
The Church and the Dime
The Bitter Suite I & II: Meeting Ms. Leading/Through the Dime
The Bitter Suite III: Embrace
Smiling Swine
Evicted
Blood of the Rose
Red Hands
Where the Road Parts
Dear Ms. Leading
Black Sandy Beaches
Vital Vessels Vindicate
Before we start:
I am excited to start this again. Looking over the titles I can’t help but speculate. Did Ms. Terri die? What happens with our main character the boy? Does he leave his home? Who is this Ms. Leading? Oh I am excited.
The Death and the Berth
A somber instrumental
The Procession
Big change. Angry music. Ms. Terri has died. Nobody was upset and the boy was left to make his own way. He sees beauty in his mother and mourns in solitary.
The Lake and the River
I like this intro. So the boy is processing his new life and growing and processing his mother’s death. He is hopeful at first but struggles and gets angry at her. It switches to a train driven song. Perhaps this is the boy's experience after leaving his home and catching a train?
The Oracles on the Delphi Express
I enjoyed the transition into this song. Almost like an old-timey dance tune. It seems like the boy is exploring the city.
The Church and the Dime
This song literally crashes in. The boy goes to the brothel to confront the pimp?
The Bitter Suite I & II: Meeting Ms. Leading/Through the Dime
The song starts with the boy encountering a prostitute. She introduces herself as Ms. Leading, he is an easy mark. The second part is almost like a sales pitch for the brothel.
The Bitter Suite III: Embrace
Completely different feeling. It’s his experience with Ms. Leading.
Smiling Swine
Now we meet the pimp. A brief encounter but no altercation. The boy is absolutely smitten with Ms. Leading.
Evicted
Maybe the other perspective. One of the prostitutes and the reason they work. Maybe Ms. Leading?
Blood of the Rose
This seems to be the boy is a bit obsessed with Ms. Leading. Perhaps he is having some concerns?
Red Hands
The boy catches Ms. Leading with another man and finds out that she is a prostitute. He has a hard time coping with this and seems to identify a difference between her sleeping with him and her doing her job.
Where the Road Parts
This is the breakup song between the main character and Ms. Leading, he ends it unable to cope with knowing her profession. Now I am not sure about the timing, I thought this could be based in the 1880’s but here they are talking about a telephone call. I am not sure when telephones first came into use and would be so prevalent that you would use it to end a relationship. It seems like the main character had a lot of difficulty deciding to leave.
Dear Ms. Leading
I was wrong, this is the breakup song. Correspondence between the main character and Ms. Leading.
Black Sandy Beaches
An unknowing third party has found the correspondence and this is their perspective and notes.
Vital Vessels Vindicate
Waves and seagull sounds. The boy has learned from his experience with Ms. Leading and is embarking on a new journey via ship.
Well now
That was an exploration of the first experience with love and heartbreak that the main character had. This reminds me a lot of My Chemical Romance, Fallout Boy, and Panic at the Disco.
