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.
Words on Signs
Archive Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
we all fall down,
into the space,
gone with no trace,
feel your heart slow,
where will we go,
into the sunlight,
or the dead of night.
there’s nobody here for me now,
there’s nobody here for me now.
So much running scared,
living breathing dead.
There’s nobody here for me now,
there’s nobody here for me now.
Silence fills you through,
time to tell the truth,
see the words on signs,
it ends with a blink of an eye.
The lyrics of the song "Words on Signs" by Archive evokes a sense of loneliness and desolation. The opening lines "Close those eyes down, we all fall down" appears to suggest a sense of surrender and resignation. The phrase "into the space, gone with no trace" seems to suggest a feeling of nothingness, where one feels devoid of any meaning or purpose. The lyrics further reinforce this theme of emptiness with "there’s nobody here for me now" which suggests a feeling of isolation and abandonment.
As the song progresses, the lyrics talk about the feeling of being alive but feeling dead inside. It talks about running away from things and yet feeling scared. The phrase "living breathing dead" highlights the paradoxical existence of a person who is physically present but devoid of any emotional connections to the world around them. The lyrics further reinforce the theme of truth, with the line "Silence fills you through, time to tell the truth" which suggests that the only path to feeling alive again is to confront the truth about oneself.
The final lines "see the words on signs, it ends with a blink of an eye" is a cryptic ending that signifies the fleeting nature of life. It suggests that life is like a momentary flash, and all we have are the memories we make along the way.
Line by Line Meaning
Close those eyes down,
Let yourself relax and turn off your thoughts.
we all fall down,
We’re all vulnerable and susceptible to failure.
into the space,
We’re surrounded by emptiness and uncertainty.
gone with no trace,
We disappear without a trace when we die.
feel your heart slow,
Take a deep breath and slow your heart rate.
where will we go,
What happens after we die?
into the sunlight,
Do we ascend to heaven?
or the dead of night.
Or do we descend into darkness?
There’s nobody here for me now,
I feel lonely and abandoned.
There’s nobody here for me now,
I have no one to comfort me.
There’s nobody here for me now.
I’m left to deal with my emotions on my own.
So much running scared,
We often run away from our problems even though we’re scared.
living breathing dead.
We’re alive but not really living, just going through the motions of existence.
There’s nobody here for me now,
I have no one to confide in or share my feelings with.
There’s nobody here for me now.
I feel completely alone in the world.
Silence fills you through,
When you’re alone, you’re surrounded by deafening silence.
time to tell the truth,
It’s important to be honest with ourselves and others.
see the words on signs,
Notice the messages that the universe is trying to tell you.
it ends with a blink of an eye.
Life is fleeting and can end suddenly.
Contributed by Mateo D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.