Cameron entered public consciousness in September 2009 with her first release on True Panther label, entitled Apply EP (released also as an UK-only 12” on the Young Turks label). The intimate, luxurious music resonated widely, despite being made by Cameron, alone and in airplanes and shoe stores, on GarageBand. Her EPs and live shows earned her attention from producers Van Rivers and the Subliminal Kid (who co-produced a few tracks and the transitions on her debut album) and opening tour slots with The xx, Jónsi, and Delorean.
In 28 September 2010, Glasser released her debut album Ring on True Panther. With Ring Cameron worked for months with producer Ariel Rechtshaid to re-imagine her musical arrangements, incorporating organic instrumentation like strings, woodwinds, bass, and a wide array of percussion into her once-sparse recordings. Her simple, minimal melodies and rapturous vocals are perfectly complimented by the album’s maximalist arrangements. The voice becomes a focal instrument, delivers abstract stories and sounds that drench the music in emotion without resorting to narrative clichés.
Ring is named for chiastic, or “ring”, structure, an idea borrowed from the oral tradition. In it, ideas are paired in a symmetric order, often leading bidirectionally toward a central idea. Cameron structured the album similarly, with no set beginning or end, with its songs representing fluctuating and often contradictory emotional states.
In “Treasury of We,” she claims, “We’re all the same/Set apart by different names,” then in “Mirrorage” says “we live alone…how can I trust in you?” Perhaps she is asking a lover, perhaps any person at all, or perhaps she’s asking Nature itself, another character in Ring. “Ain’t it odd how we mimic nature indoors, when nature is far more vivid to endure?” she asks, adding, “So where’s the comfort there? What’s real can be anywhere.” It offers fantasy (“Hollowed a log to ride…Behind a beast with a liquid hide”), hope (“Let me grow with you/And I will cut all the blooms/To decorate your room”), pain (“The clouds were dust, raining on us/There was a phantom me in a bed of love”).
In Glasser there exists, side by side, the optimism of a woman captivated by creation and travel, as well as the anxiety that accompanies nomadism and change. Of this duality, the New York Times said “these are beautiful songs, both sweet and abstract, deeply felt and anodyne.” Somehow, in Glasser’s efforts to make sense of her world, she has made an album with the universal lure of both a lullaby and a hymn.
Official site: http://www.myspace.com/glasssser
Treasury of We
Glasser Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To change my mind
But now I do it all the time
I'll find the branches of the truth
I'll give them to you
But the same
Set apart by different names
But underneath, we've got the code
You're part of the whole world
Wrapped in a box with liquid keys
Is a treasury of we
Connecting us entirely
Infinitely
Feel the harmony
But the same
We're all the same
Set apart by different names
But underneath, we've got the code
You can let it go
You're part of the whole world
Come to, gonna
To hear, to know
And it's by nothing to know of
True see got nothing
To hear your words
Oh to hop to the vacant children
We beat our heads against the wall
We press our eyes into the ground
We beat our heads against the wall
We press our eyes into the ground
Oh to hop to the vacant children
We beat our heads against the wall
We press our eyes into the ground
We beat our heads against the wall
We press our eyes into the ground
Chalked in a riddle
We divine
Take away the answer
Ease your mind
Suffer and together
Your hand in mine
The lyrics of Glasser's song Treasury of We speak to the universality of human experience and interconnectedness. The singer speaks of how love has changed her way of thinking and how she is constantly searching for the truth to share it with others. She emphasizes the unity and sameness of all human beings, despite our different identities and labels, and how we all hold the same code within us.
The chorus repeats the line "but the same, we're all the same" to drive home the message of unity and interconnectedness. The second verse introduces the idea of a "treasury of we" that connects us all, represented as a box with "liquid keys." This line is open to interpretation, but it could be seen as a metaphor for the shared experiences and emotions that connect us all. The bridge seems to express frustration at the difficulty of communication and understanding, as we "beat our heads against the wall" and "press our eyes into the ground." The song ends on a hopeful note, with the image of two people holding hands and suffering together through the trials of life.
Overall, Treasury of We is a song that speaks to the essential human need for connection and understanding. It emphasizes our shared experiences and emotions, and encourages us to seek out the truth and share it with others. The song's message of unity and interconnectedness is particularly relevant in today's divided world, where it's easy to forget our common humanity.
Line by Line Meaning
The love for you
My affection towards you
To change my mind
To alter my thoughts or opinions
But now I do it all the time
But now I do it often or habitually
I'll find the branches of the truth
I will discover the different aspects of what is true
I'll give them to you
I will share these discoveries with you
But the same
However
We're all the same
We are all identical
Set apart by different names
Distinguished by dissimilar titles
But underneath, we've got the code
But fundamentally, we have the same essential structure
You're part of the whole world
You belong to the entire planet
Wrapped in a box with liquid keys
Encased in a container that has fluidic mechanisms
Is a treasury of we
Exists a treasure trove of us (humanity)
Connecting us entirely
Unifying us fully
Infinitely
Unlimitedly
Feel the harmony
Perceive the consonance
You can let it go
You can relinquish it
Come to, gonna
Listen, I am going to
To hear, to know
To perceive, to understand
And it's by nothing to know of
And there is nothing to be aware of
True see got nothing
The truth of the matter is insignificant
To hear your words
To listen to your speech
Oh to hop to the vacant children
Oh, to jump to the unoccupied children
We beat our heads against the wall
We struggle against obstacles
We press our eyes into the ground
We bury our faces in the soil
Chalked in a riddle
Written in a puzzle
We divine
We interpret (it)
Take away the answer
Remove the solution
Ease your mind
Relax your thoughts
Suffer and together
Agonize and in unison
Your hand in mine
Your hand holding mine
Contributed by Sebastian I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.