Archive was formed by Londoners Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths in 1994 and began as an electronica project. At the beginning, they mixed Bristol-style, Massive Attack, Portishead with Rap. The first album of the band, Londinium released in 1996 (with Roya Arab and Rosko John as guest vocalists). The second album, Take my Head, (which the band hates) was released in 1999 (with a new guest vocalist Suzanne Wooder), it is much more melodic than Londinium. The first song of the album, You Make Me Feel, illustrates this change in the Archive's music. After being dropped by their label and more changes in the lineup, the band seemed to hit its stride on the third album You All Look The Same To Me (2002), featuring singer Craig Walker (formerly of Power of Dreams), which took a decided turn toward more progressive music (with some Progressive Rock influences, notably Pink Floyd whose indelible influence is audible on tracks such as 'Finding it so Hard' and 'Again'), while still maintaining electronic elements. The band saw growing popularity and critical acclaim, especially in France, Greece, Germany and Poland. After recording two more artistically—but not too commercially—successful albums, Michel Vaillant (2003) and Noise (2004), Walker left the band for reasons the band and he will not talk about. The project continued on as a Collective, with new vocalists, Pollard Berrier and Dave Pen. In May 2006 they released the album Lights with Pollard Berrier on lead vocals, who is also a member/guest member of the innovative group, "Bauchklang" - a completely vocal beat-box (Vocal Groove) group based in Vienna, Austria. Archive released a live album, entitled,Live at Paris Zenith, in May, 2007 - which was recorded on January 20th, 2007 at the sold out Zentih Arena in Paris. Rolling Stone called it, "The best live album ever made." Archive continues to tour and is working on a number of forthcoming releases in the near future.
Archive are a Collective, not a band.
Finding It So Hard
Archive Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm finding it so hard
To communicate with you
I'm finding it so hard
To show myself to you
'cause these feelings
Won't go away
To get over this
So I can keep my love in here
I'm finding it so hard
To see reason with you
I'm finding it so hard
To show my love to you
'cause these emotions
Won't come out of here
God give me the power
To love again
So I can feel my heart again
I'm finding it so hard
To make my life with you
I'm finding it so hard
To let myself be with you
'cause this selfishness
Won't go away
Lock myself up
When you're with me
So free me so I can love again
Just free me
I'm finding it so hard
To communicate with you
I'm finding it so hard
To show myself to you
'cause these emotions
Won't come out of here
Lock myself up
When you're with me (Repeat)
In Archive's song "Finding It So Hard", the singer is struggling to connect with and express their emotions to someone they love. They repeat the phrase "I'm finding it so hard" throughout the song to emphasize their difficulty in communicating and relating to this person. The singer acknowledges that their own selfishness and unresolved emotions are getting in the way of forming a deeper connection. They ask for strength and power from a higher power to overcome these obstacles and be able to love and feel again. The repetition of "lock myself up when you're with me" further emphasizes the singer's inner turmoil and inability to fully open themselves up to the person they love.
The song's slow and melancholic melody, combined with the raw emotion in the lyrics, creates a sense of vulnerability and introspection. The use of religious language also adds weight to the singer's struggle, highlighting the gravity of their emotional turmoil. The song ultimately portrays the difficulty of overcoming one's own emotional barriers and opening up to others, but leaves room for hope and resilience in the face of this struggle.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm finding it so hard
Expressing the artist's difficulty in addressing their problems
To communicate with you
The artist is struggling to convey their thoughts/feelings to someone close to them
To show myself to you
The artist is facing difficulty in displaying their true self to someone
'cause these feelings
These feelings are causing a problem in the artist's life
Won't go away
The artist is unable to push these emotions aside
God give me the strength
The artist seeks strength from a higher power or divine source
To get over this
The artist wants to move on from this current state of emotional turmoil
So I can keep my love in here
The artist wants to preserve their love within themselves
To see reason with you
The artist is having difficulty finding common ground or understanding with someone close to them
To show my love to you
The artist is unable to display their affection for someone
'cause these emotions
These emotions are preventing the artist from being honest or truthful
Won't come out of here
The artist is struggling to express their feelings
God give me the power
The artist is seeking the ability to overcome their emotional anxiety
To love again
The artist wants to regain the ability to love without fear
So I can feel my heart again
The artist wants to rediscover the emotions and feelings of the heart
To make my life with you
The artist is trying to build a life with someone close to them
To let myself be with you
The artist is struggling to let their guard down and allow themselves to be vulnerable
'cause this selfishness
The artist is acknowledging a lack of selflessness in their actions
Won't go away
The artist is having trouble overcoming the negative attribute of selfishness
Lock myself up
The artist is isolating themselves from others
When you're with me
It is only in the presence of someone close that the artist feels this self-imprisonment
So free me so I can love again
The artist is seeking release from their self-imprisonment to regain the ability to love openly
Just free me
A plea to be released from the emotional shackles holding the artist back
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DARIUS KEELER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind