in a 2012 interview, The Used bassist Jeph Howard said that "A Box Full of Sharp Objects" is probably his favorite song by the band.
A few years ago, while preparing to send the album art for b-side collection Shallow Believer to his record label, Bert McCracken scrawled the word “Artwork” across its cover in silver ink. The sentiment, which, to Bert and his bandmates in The Used, resonated with both extreme simplicity and indescribable complexity, said everything without really having to say anything. Now, the Utah band has titled their fourth full-length album with that very word: Artwork.
The group started writing the album after finishing the Taste of Chaos International tour in 2007, slowly collecting and jamming out ideas with no concrete intention beyond making the songs as dirty as possible. The Used, whose last album, 2007’s Lies For the Liars, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200, spent the first half of 2008 in LA exploring and refining these ideas, eventually piecing tangential riffs and melodies into a scattering of songs that contained a surprisingly cohesive sensibility. The band members dubbed the music they were writing “gross pop,” their own new genre of hook-laden numbers that pushed the boundaries of the grotesque. Tracking for the album began in June of 2008 with producer Matt Squire and eventually concluded in February of 2009, primarily at LA studios The Lair and NRG. Between a few sporadic tours, the band spent about three months total recording with Squire where they allowed their creativity to dictate when they worked on something.
“I wouldn’t say it was hard to make any of the record but it definitely was time consuming,” Bert says. “We worked on our time table. The band allowed me to create when I was able to create, which was a good thing. I didn’t feel pressure to force things. There was no specific time I had to do anything. If we were in the studio and I’d been working on lyrics for five hours and nothing came out, we would just try again tomorrow.”
In the studio Squire approached the recording process with a laid-back attitude the band both appreciated and needed. The decision to work with a new producer after establishing a longtime relationship with producer John Feldman, who was at the helm of the band’s past three albums (Lies For the Liars, as well as 2004’s In Love and Death and 2002’s The Used, both of which were certified gold), was derived from a simple desire for change. The Used wanted to see what would happen if they entered the studio with someone different, a process guitarist Quinn Allman compares to “breaking up with your girlfriend not because you don’t love her but because you need to try something new.”
“It wasn’t that we absolutely didn’t want to work with Feldman or that we absolutely wanted to work with Squire,” Bert explains. “It was more that the band needed a change. We wanted to try something different and have it sound a lot different. It took a few weeks for us to get a vibe for each, but once we got used to it, it was really easy. Squire brought in this willingness to try anything and an open mind and a good attitude. I feel like he was really in touch with what the band wanted to do and he was really supportive of our ideas.”
The result is a raw collection of twelve songs that not so delicately teeter the line between being aggressively discordant and charmingly hooky. The first single “Blood On My Hands,” which Quinn describes as the song that “sums up everything about The Used,” is confined chaos, brutally thrashing one moment and proffering a pop-driven, sing-along chorus the next. “Empty With You,” a track Bert says is “about feeling empty and lonely but as long as you have someone who can feel lonely with you then everything’s okay,” surges with passion and gripping honesty, while “Cut Yourself” balances the album’s predilection for propulsive rage with its quieter, piano-driven exploration of what it means to have someone to lean on.
“This record is more sincere,” Quinn says. “It’s got a sound more reminiscent of the first record. Lyrically, it completely engulfs you and makes you feel safe but it’s all about feeling alone and empty and knowing there’s always a light. If you’re frustrated that much it means you care that much. The lyrics carry you through the record and you’re right with Bert and where he’s at. The music isn’t showing off. It’s just being what it is. I think the fans will appreciate all that.”
“This record is about coming together,” Bert adds. “Whether it’s through positivity or negativity, it’s about coming together through anything.”
Artwork encapsulates the past eight years of a band that’s played tours and festivals like Warped Tour, Ozzfest, Projek Revolution, Give It a Name, Reading and Leeds and SxSW, and sold over two million albums in the States alone, while simultaneously urging them forward. It’s a collaborative effort that drew The Used closer together during its creation. It’s about love and mortality and the basic human emotions we all experience every day. It’s biting and gritty, and it’s melodic and catchy. It’s a new chapter for a band that’s constantly sought to redefine the bounds of pop music—and have always successfully done so. It’s a reminder, as Bert says, “we’re all artists creating our own art just by living it.”
“I Come Alive” is the first single from The Used's fifth album, Vulnerable. It is the first release on the band's own label, Anger Music Group, an imprint of Hopeless Records. The song was released on January 17, 2012. (I Come Alive Songfacts).
Light With a Sharpened Edge
The Used Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
All this I'm giving up
Much as the sun would decide to give in
Exploding to orange
And hear all the voices sing praises and hymns
Mark the birth of a change
Free from the torment of sin
All this I'm giving up
It's not me
Buried wreckage my soul
It's not me so who am I now
Over and over again
Light with a sharpened edge
Cut through the black empty space we call sky
Beginning the cycle that stays
And I know in my heart we all die
Like the day and the night
Like the sun in the sky
All this I'm giving up
It's not me
Buried wreckage my soul
It's not me so who am I now?
Is there another side?
Beat out the black and white
Place I could meet you by
A place on the other side
I'll let you know when I go
When I'm gone
It's not me
Buried wreckage my soul
It's not me so who am I now?
The lyrics of The Used's song Light With A Sharpened Edge appear to speak of liberation from sin and a desire to leave behind the old way of life. The singer seems to have come to the realization that giving up the torment of sin is the only way to start anew. They almost seem to be talking about the cycle of life and death, comparing it to the cycle of day and night, adding to the sense of the inevitability of change. The song references a 'light with a sharpened edge', which cuts through the 'black empty space we call sky'. This possibly represents the dawn of a new day, when light cuts through the darkness of night. The lyrics also make mention of the idea of 'another side', suggesting an afterlife or an alternate existence beyond the current one.
The ambiguity and abstractness of the lyrics allows for multiple interpretations. The idea of leaving behind the old and embracing the new can be seen as a metaphor for personal growth and development. It is a call to let go of one's past and embrace a brighter future. Overall, Light With A Sharpened Edge is a song about change, catharsis and renewal.
Line by Line Meaning
Free from the torment of sin
I am free from the pain caused by my sins.
All this I'm giving up
I am letting go of everything that is causing me torment.
Much as the sun would decide to give in
Just as the sun could give up and disappear, so could I.
Exploding to orange
I will burn brightly, like the sun.
And hear all the voices sing praises and hymns
I will hear the joyful praises and hymns of those who support me.
Mark the birth of a change
This is a new beginning, a significant moment of transformation.
It's not me
I don't recognize myself or my actions.
Buried wreckage my soul
I am weighed down by the damage done to my spirit.
so who am I now
I am different now and I don't know who I am anymore.
Over and over again
This is a recurring cycle that never ends.
Light with a sharpened edge
I am a bright, but dangerous presence.
Cut through the black empty space we call sky
I am so powerful that I can cut through darkness.
Beginning the cycle that stays
This action will lead to another cycle of torment.
And I know in my heart we all die
I am aware of the inevitability of death for every living thing.
Like the day and the night
Life has its cycles and rhythms that we cannot change.
Is there another side?
I wonder if there is a better place or better way of being.
Beat out the black and white
I need to break free from rigid thinking and labels.
Place I could meet you by
I hope to find a place where we can connect and be understood.
A place on the other side
There must be a place beyond this painful life.
I'll let you know when I go
I will communicate with you when I leave this world.
When I'm gone
After I die.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., SOVEREIGN MUSIC
Written by: QUINN ALLMAN, JEPH HOWARD, ROBERT MCCRACKEN, BRANDEN STEINECKERT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind