Gomez completed an inaugural U.S. tour opening for Eagle-Eye Cherry in October 1998, while the press still offered praise (Spin magazine called Bring It On "a damn beautiful album," giving it an eight out of ten rating). Liquid Skin followed one year later and went platinum in England, and the rarities/B-sides compilation Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline appeared in 2000. A third studio album, In Our Gun, was released in spring 2002. Another hiatus saw Ian Ball relocating to Los Angeles while still working with the band at its new studio in Portslade, England. The dozens of tracks recorded during this time were whittled down and fashioned into Split the Difference, released in May of 2004. By that time, Hut, the group's original label, had gone under, leaving Gomez signed to Virgin (Hut's distributor). Despite all the critical acclaim, the band's album sales never seemed to match Virgin's expectations, and the two sides parted ways later that year.
In 2005, Gomez signed with ATO Records and released Out West, the group's first live album. How We Operate arrived in May 2006, and the band rounded out the year by assembling a retrospective collection of singles, rarities, and unreleased tracks entitled Five Men in a Hut: Singles 1998-2004. Gomez's members were spread across two continents by this point, leading to a three-year gap between How We Operate and the band's sixth studio release, A New Tide, parts of which were recorded individually by the various bandmates and then merged online. Ben Ottewell took some time after its release to launch a solo career, with 2011's Shapes & Shadows marking his first major release outside of the band. Months later, the band released another studio album, Whatever's on Your Mind, with Phantom Planet's Sam Farrar sharing production duties with the bandmates themselves.
Biography by Greg Prato
X-Rays
Gomez Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The air we breathe in
Keep on places we've got to share
Get to see them
You didn't turn it on
But you can't turn it off
I know you didn't turn it on
All the information
Competing for the memory
Perfect situation
Consuming all the energy
We didn't turn it on
But we can't turn it off
I know we didn't turn it on
But we can't turn it off
Can we rediscover what we had?
Oh, I never felt it dissolving
And it's nothing like what we used to have
Oh, we never saw it fading away, being human
It's time to figure out what went wrong
And seal the distance too far across
We should just start crossing it
The distance doesn't exist
It's time to let go of what we lost
A heavy elixir
Felt it slip through my fingers
As I raised my hands to my face
It's time we made our final stop
And look for the air that is yet to be touched
By any other human being
Being human
You can't turn it off
I know you didn't turn it on
But you can't turn it off
The song "X-Rays" by Gomez highlights the struggles that come with living in a world dominated by technology and information overload. Through the lyrics, the band portrays a world where the constant buzz of technology has made it difficult to connect with others and be present in the moment. The song begins by talking about the fleeting moments we experience in life and how we must make the most of them. It speaks to the idea that we all have to share this world and we should embrace it while we can.
As the song progresses, the band delves deeper into the concept of technology and the media consuming our lives. The lyrics address the incessant flow of information and how we are bombarded with it every day. It calls attention to the fact that we didn't turn it on ourselves, but we still can't turn it off. We are all caught up in this constant stream of data and there seems to be no escape. The band questions whether we can rediscover the human connection we have lost in this modern world.
In the end, the song talks about letting go of what we've lost and making the most of the time we still have. It encourages us to search for new experiences and seek out the moments that have yet to be touched by anyone else. The message is clear and poignant: life is fleeting, and we must make the most of it while we can.
Line by Line Meaning
All the times we float through
We pass through different moments in our lives
The air we breathe in
The surrounding environment we live in
Keep on places we've got to share
Places we've been to and are meant to share with others
Get to see them
We have the opportunity to observe and appreciate the places
You didn't turn it on
The events did not happen because of your doing
But you can't turn it off
But you cannot undo or forget them
I know you didn't turn it on
I understand it wasn't you who caused it
All the information
The abundance of knowledge we have access to
Competing for the memory
All competing for a chance to remain in our brain
Perfect situation
The ideal state of being
Consuming all the energy
But it requires a lot of effort to achieve
We didn't turn it on
The ideal state did not arise because of our doing
But we can't turn it off
But we cannot stop trying until we have it
I know we didn't turn it on
I understand that we didn't create the perfect scenario
Can we rediscover what we had?
Can we relive the past's perfect moments?
Oh, I never felt it dissolving
I didn't notice it gradually disappearing
And it's nothing like what we used to have
What we have now is incomparable to the past
Oh, we never saw it fading away, being human
We remained ignorant of it, just like any other human would
It's time to figure out what went wrong
We need to identify the cause of our current state
And seal the distance too far across
And close the physical and emotional distance between us
We should just start crossing it
We should take the first step in bridging the gap
The distance doesn't exist
Once we start taking action, the gap will disappear
It's time to let go of what we lost
We need to release the pain of losing what we once had
A heavy elixir
The weighty concoction of emotions that we must let go of
Felt it slip through my fingers
I felt it slowly slipping away from me
As I raised my hands to my face
As I grieved and covered my face with my hands
It's time we made our final stop
We need to make a decisive choice that will shape our future
And look for the air that is yet to be touched
We should look for opportunities that have not been seen or utilised
By any other human being
That have not been achieved by anyone else, being human
You can't turn it off
We cannot unlearn or undo the events of the past
I know you didn't turn it on
I understand you weren't the cause of what happened
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Benjamin Joseph Ottewell, Ian Thomas Ball, Oliver James Peacock, Paul Blackburn, Thomas William Gray
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
samsbro1952
This starts out as typical Ian brilliance, lyrically and vocally. then at 2;16 it transforms into a musical wonderland. These guys are true artists.
Roger sm1th
Love this track. Gomez are the best band on the planet.
Hootshot112
I don't know why but I think it's a good december song, when the snow starts falling, christmas is approching and you are excited to finish the final exams...
Jo Burleigh
the last track is ember lane, but definately brilliant music!
murrayrgs
@430CurlyJo that explains it, ember lane's a bonus track, it's not on the cd or vinyl :)
murrayrgs
@430CurlyJo What version of the album do you have? It's the last track on mine at least :S
murrayrgs
@aaronharwood1985 Sorry, I don't like to post more than a couple of songs from any given album, but if you google 'gomez - equalize' you'll find it. I notice that someone did post it but it has been taken down due to the uploader posting full albums - I won't take that risk. Hope that helps!
Jo Burleigh
@murrayrgs erm UK itunes one, 11 songs in total