Julia Easterlin is a sophisticated musical mind who wields composition, pro… Read Full Bio ↴Julia Easterlin is a sophisticated musical mind who wields composition, production and performance in one fell swoop. One part siren and one part techy, she uses looping hardware to build a one-woman chorus live on stage. Trained as a classical pianist and jazz vocalist, Julia began performing at 15. After garnering acclaim from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the John Lennon Foundation, Downbeat Magazine, and the Gibson/Baldwin GRAMMY Jazz Ensembles, she ventured into underground electronic, experimenting with her voice, manipulating it to mimic electronically generated sound waves. Combining electro/acoustic texture with the musical roots of her classical and jazz training, Julia composed and performed with the assistance of her “magic box” – a loop machine. This requires her to record, organize, maintain and trigger up to 20 different loops over the course of one song. When asked how she keeps track of it all, she says, “I visualize a song as a series of colors and shapes. Each sound I make has a corresponding shape, and the song form is represented by a pattern of all the shapes moving together. What I see in my head over the course of a song looks like a scrolling quilt or a painting that moves.”

Julia graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston and has performed at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago and the CollegeMusicJournal (CMJ) festival in New York. She received acclaim for her recording of Radiohead’s “There There”. Julia’s currently working with a new band, combining her loop station with two drummers and a bassist (and lots of dancing) to construct a new body of work. She plans to premiere the work in 2012.
http://www.juliaeasterlin.com/

Render
Julia Easterlin Lyrics

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Shut your mouth and it's all good
Shut your eyes and it's all good
Oh, I don't wanna know

You take it back and it's backwards
You fix it up and it's upside down
Where's the solid ground?
Six feet above me

You talk it up but it's over
You talk it over and it all falls out
What do we say now?

You've got a wheel for spinnin
I've got a knife to throw
This is the end of the illusion
And I feel like a blind man running

I have no idea what I'm doin
This is the sound of things in ruin

Overall Meaning

The song "Render" by Julia Easterlin is a haunting and introspective piece, exploring the themes of confusion, disillusionment, and uncertainty. The lyrics are rich in symbolism, with the repeated refrain of "shut your mouth and it's all good" and "shut your eyes and it's all good" suggesting a desire to escape from reality and its complexities. The singer seems to be grappling with conflicting emotions and opposing forces, as evidenced by the lines "you take it back and it's backwards, you fix it up and it's upside down." The search for "solid ground" and the feeling of being "six feet above me" suggest a yearning for stability and a sense of grounding, but the shifting perspectives and contradictions that are present throughout the lyrics undermine any sense of certainty.

The sense of confusion and uncertainty continues with the lines "you talk it up but it's over, you talk it over and it all falls out." The singer seems to be trying to make sense of something that has come apart or failed, but is unable to find the words to express themselves. The lines "you've got a wheel for spinnin, I've got a knife to throw" suggest a sense of opposition or tension between two people or forces, with one person feeling as though they are being pushed around or manipulated, while the other is more assertive and potentially aggressive. The final lines "this is the end of the illusion, and I feel like a blind man running, I have no idea what I'm doin, this is the sound of things in ruin" suggest a sense of finality and acknowledgement of a situation that has become untenable. The singer is unable to make sense of what has happened, and is left feeling lost and adrift in a world that has become chaotic and unstable.

Line by Line Meaning

Shut your mouth and it's all good
Remaining silent avoids trouble.

Shut your eyes and it's all good
Ignoring a problem will make it disappear.

Oh, I don't wanna know
Denial is easier than facing reality.

You take it back and it's backwards
Correcting a mistake creates more confusion.

You fix it up and it's upside down
Attempts to repair a problem only make it worse.

Where's the solid ground?
Uncertainty creates instability.

Six feet above me
Feeling buried by problems and stress.

You talk it up but it's over
Empty promises and talk are meaningless.

You talk it over and it all falls out
Even discussions can lead to more problems.

What do we say now?
Running out of solutions or words to say.

You've got a wheel for spinning
Having the ability to manipulate others.