Affecting and anthemic… Read Full Bio ↴Sivu is British singer-songwriter James Page.
Affecting and anthemic, 'Miracle (Human Error)' is a bold step forward from Sivu - marrying his trademark brand of baroque-pop, which has drawn frequent comparisons with Wild Beasts, to the soaring, wide-screen quality of Arcade Fire, and the distorted, aggressive guitars of Radiohead circa-'Creep'. It's a dramatic but ultimately uplifting mix, produced alongside long-term collaborator Charlie Andrew (who has recently completed the second Alt-J album, due for release in September). The surreal accompanying video, in which a couple collide as the world appears to collapse around them, was directed by Georgia Hudson (who has recently worked with Klaxons, Swim Deep and MØ).
Whilst growing in confidence and ambition, lyrically 'Miracle (Human Error)' retains the intimate, internal conflictions that run throughout Sivu's work. He started writing solo songs two years ago, upon moving from a sleepy Cambridgeshire town to a claustrophobic apartment on the twentieth floor of a daunting ex-council block in Kennington. Frank Sinatra's'Strangers In The Night' was the blueprint for a glitchy form of melodically dreamy, idiosyncratic pop, whilst the name Sivu was equally strange but memorable: a translation of his surname in Finnish, it's a fitting snapshot of the dark and lyrically direct mirror-image that would become James Page's performing alias. New single 'Miracle (Human Error)' was penned shortly after breakthrough moment 'Better Man Than He', whose viral video (filmed in an MRI machine) was filmed in between shifts working in a call centre, and picked up over half a million hits - with M.I.A among those declaring it her video of the year.
And like 'Better Man', 'Miracle (Human Error)' sees Sivu's mind wandering towards bigger topics, often between dead-end sales calls from the office. It's a vocal fear of The Unknown, asking questions of both the short-term, day-to-day acclimatisation to London life, and the bigger-picture crisis of our place in the cosmos. Not being religious, it's a theme Sivu was surprised to find himself returning to. "With social media and technology, it sometimes feels like we're all getting a little colder and are becoming just a bunch of URLs," he explains, pointing to the oddly-sing-along chorus of "because it's time to collide / this human error's what we're made for / but now we're dead inside / we're ones and zeros of a half-lived life"."I've always suffered from quite bad anxiety, and 'Miracle (Human Error)' is about that sense of feeling small in the world - and me being as honest as possible, to move forward."
Sivu has recently completed his debut album, ”Something On High”, a stunning soundtrack of time spent settling into a new city, young-adulthood, and ultimately his own skin.
https://soundcloud.com/sivusignals
Sleep
Sivu Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm the cruel part of life's sleight of hand
I am drool, I am your coffin, I am your plea
I'm the person you never wanted to be
I'll be your eyes in your sockets
I'm your slave
I'll break whats left of you and hide it away
Now let me sleep so I can slip away
I am a knife counting my footsteps from your wound
I am the cross stitch that will take you to the moon
I am a man, I have a purpose, I am your key
Won't you lay here, won't you stay here with me?
I'll be your eyes in your sockets
I'm your slave
I'll break whats left of you and hide it away
I'm a cruel cold-hearted waste of space
Now let me sleep so I can slip away
I'll be your eyes in your sockets
I'm your slave
I'll break whats left of you and hide it away
I'll be the stones in your pocket, I'm dead weight
I'll break whats left of you and hide it away
I'm a cruel cold-hearted waste of space
Now let me sleep so I can slip away
The song "Sleep" by Sivu is a hauntingly beautiful melody that conveys an eerie sense of someone who is on the brink of risking everything to achieve something. The lyrics suggest that the singer is a mix of light and dark, love and hate, hope and despair. The opening stanza, "I'm a lord, I'm apostle, I'm a plague, I'm the cruel part of life's sleight of hand" depicts the singer as a multifaceted individual. The reference to being a plague and the cruel part of life is alarming and suggests that the singer is not necessarily a good person.
In the following stanza, the singer becomes more ominous, saying "I am drool, I am your coffin, I am your plea, I'm the person you never wanted to be." This reinforces the idea that the singer is not someone who is to be admired. The phrase "I'll break whats left of you and hide it away" suggests that the singer is not only dangerous but potentially violent.
The third stanza becomes more seductive and contemplative, with the singer asking "Won't you lay here, won't you stay here with me?" This shift in tone adds to the complexity of the singer's nature. They are a mixture of light and dark, good and bad, and there is no clear answer as to who they are or what their intentions truly are. Overall, "Sleep" by Sivu is a beautifully haunting song that captures the essence of a complex character.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm a lord, I'm apostle, I'm a plague
I am someone with immense power, influence and control, who brings about suffering and destruction
I'm the cruel part of life's sleight of hand
I represent the harsh and cruel realities of life that people often try to avoid or ignore
I am drool, I am your coffin, I am your plea
I am repulsive, I am the end of you, and I am the last hope you cling on to
I'm the person you never wanted to be
I am the embodiment of everything you fear and hate about yourself
I'll be your eyes in your sockets
I will control you and everything you see and perceive
I'm your slave
You are under my control and have no choice but to obey me
I'll break whats left of you and hide it away
I will completely destroy and obliterate you, leaving nothing behind
I'm a cruel cold-hearted waste of space
I am utterly heartless and worthless, with no redeeming qualities
Now let me sleep so I can slip away
Let me rest so I can escape from this life and leave all the pain and suffering behind
I am a knife counting my footsteps from your wound
I am the reminder of your past hurts and the one who inflicted them on you
I am the cross stitch that will take you to the moon
I am the only way out of your pain and sorrow, but it will take you farther away from reality
I am a man, I have a purpose, I am your key
I am the master of your fate, the one who gives your life meaning and purpose
Won't you lay here, won't you stay here with me?
Won't you surrender to me completely and stay by my side forever?
I'll be the stones in your pocket, I'm dead weight
I'll burden you with my weight and drag you down with me
Writer(s): James Page
Contributed by Noah E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.