… Read Full Bio ↴Will Wiesenfeld AKA Baths was born in 1989, in Los Angeles, California.
Wiesenfield is a classically trained musician, and began learning the piano at the age of four “to compete with his brother”. By twelve he had “completely abandoned it,” but continual musical experimenting lead him to record his first piece of music at age fourteen. Under a previous moniker, [Post-foetus], he wrote four albums and three EPs. He also ventured into a more ambient style with side-project Geotic, a project which Irish magazine State.ie called “gorgeous”.
After adopting the name Baths, he released debut album Cerulean on independent record label Anticon. He recorded the entire album in two months from his bedroom. The BBC’s Mike Diver claims Baths’ nearest musical sound-a-like is chillwave musician Toro Y Moi. Pitchfork noted Baths’ influences, acts such as Björk and Flying Lotus, were “obvious” in his work.
Drowned in Sound noted Baths’ use of “unorthodox” sounds layered in and around the electronics, in particular “clicking pens, vocal samples, rustling blankets and scissor snaps”. British newspaper The Guardian’s Paul Lester commented he was reminded of “J Dilla playing around with the Pavement and Prince catalogues” while listening to the album. While a lot of his music is instrumental, it can occasionally incorporate vocals, most of them falsetto.
Cerulean was listed by the AV Club as the 21st best album of 2010. It made Pitchfork’s Album of the Year: Honorable Mention list.
Incompatible
Baths Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You live in my house and we share a toilet seat
And I am not the least bit drawn
The covers in divisive heaps
Scared of how little I care
First boyfriend
You live in my house and we share a toilet seat
And I am not the least bit drawn to your heat
On the nights you roll over and introduce yourself
Nurse this erection back to full health
On the nights you roll over and introduce yourself
I am elsewhere
Failed your maiden voyage
Failed the maiden voyage
Failed your maiden voyage
Failed the maiden voyage
Fated all the while
You know that this was never your home
Your life, your husband, your time
Failed your maiden voyage
Failed the maiden voyage
Failed your maiden voyage
Failed the maiden voyage
Fated all the while
You know no love remains
No, not at all
No, not in either one of us
You don't do anything with your life
Fascinating, terrible - your stupid idling mind
I can prod your hurt all night
Or resign and find
Any other stupid thing to do with my time
I was never poetic and never kind
Scared of how little I care for you
Scared of how little I care for you
Scared of how little I care for you
I am elsewhere
On the nights you roll over and introduce yourself
Nurse this erection back to full health
On the nights you roll over and introduce yourself
I am elsewhere
Failed your maiden voyage
Failed your maiden voyage
Failed your maiden voyage
Failed the maiden voyage
Fated all the while
You know that this was never your home
Your life, your husband, your time
Failed your maiden voyage
Failed the maiden voyage
Failed your maiden voyage
Failed the maiden voyage
Fated all the while
You know no love remains
No, not at all
No, not in either one of us
"Incompatible" by Baths is a song that centers on a failing relationship. The singer seems to be stuck with her current boyfriend, whom she refers to as her "first boyfriend." They live together, but she is not drawn to him at all. The lyrics mention how they share a toilet seat, and the covers are in piles that divide them. The singer is scared of how little she cares for him, and on nights when he wants to be intimate, she is not present.
There is a sense of resignation in the song, with the singer acknowledging that the relationship has failed. She tells her boyfriend that their lives, time, and love are incompatible, and how they both know that no love remains between them. There's a sense of frustration as well, as the singer laments on how her boyfriend doesn't do anything with his life, and how his "idling mind" is fascinating but also terrible. She seems to be torn between trying to help him and finding something else to do with her time.
Line by Line Meaning
First boyfriend
Addressing her boyfriend as the first one she had, probably indicating disposability or insignificance of the relationship.
You live in my house and we share a toilet seat
Emphasizing the close and intimate living arrangement but from a rather negative, cramped perspective.
And I am not the least bit drawn
Lack of attraction towards the partner, perhaps even repulsion.
The covers in divisive heaps
A metaphor for how something as small as sharing a bed could become a source of division between them.
Scared of how little I care
Afraid of the honesty behind her lack of feeling or concern for her partner.
And I am not the least bit drawn to your heat
Embarrassed or annoyed by her partner's sexual desires or advances.
Failed your maiden voyage
Her first attempt or experience in romance with her partner has failed, indicating finality or a doomed fate for their relationship.
Fated all the while
Their inevitable, negative outcome was determined since the beginning.
You know that this was never your home
Acknowledging how her partner doesn't really belong or fit in with her life or surroundings.
Your life, your husband, your time
Three aspects of her partner's life being deemed unsatisfactory, as a husband and life partner who doesn't value time and energy.
You don't do anything with your life
Dismissing her partner as someone without ambition, direction or passion.
Fascinating, terrible - your stupid idling mind
Sarcastically exclaiming how intriguing and awful her partner's idle mind is- indicating boredom and contempt.
I can prod your hurt all night
Capable of digging in and inflicting emotional pain on her partner due to resentment or spite.
Or resign and find any other stupid thing to do with my time
Implying that spending time with her partner seems like a waste or negative experience not worth experiencing when other activities exist.
I was never poetic and never kind
Rejecting the stereotypical expectations of what a caring or loving partner should provide, denying any pretense of emotional intimacy.
Scared of how little I care for you
Repetition of how the truth of her apathy towards her partner frightens her due to its honesty and implications.
On the nights you roll over and introduce yourself
Nurse this erection back to full health
Mocking or belittling her partner's romantic advances or physical desire towards her during intimate moments.
I am elsewhere
Disengaged, emotionally absent or distant from her partner during intimate encounters.
You know no love remains
No, not at all
No, not in either one of us
Affirming the finality and irredeemability of their relationship- no love exists between them anymore.
Contributed by Aaliyah T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.