Heavy Water/ I'd Rather Be Sleeping

Grouper's 'Heavy Water/ I'd Rather Be Sleeping' is a hauntingly beautiful exploration of love, dreams, and the subconscious. The song's ethereal lyrics and ambient soundscapes create a sense of drifting through an emotional and dreamlike state. The recurring theme of water serves as a powerful metaphor for the fluidity and depth of emotions, particularly love. The opening lines, 'This feeling doesn't go away / I feel it moving through me,' suggest a persistent and overwhelming emotion that the narrator cannot escape, hinting at a love that is both consuming and transformative.

The imagery of 'moving through heavy water' in dreams conveys a sense of being submerged in deep, powerful emotions. Water, often symbolizing the subconscious, represents the narrator's inner world where love is 'enormous' and 'lifting me up.' This duality of being uplifted by love while also feeling the weight of it is a central theme. The desire to 'fall into tidal waves' and 'go where the deepest currents go' reflects a longing to fully immerse oneself in these profound emotions, even if it means surrendering to their overwhelming nature.

The line 'I opened a mirror up / And saw a true love' introduces the idea of self-reflection and the discovery of genuine love within oneself. However, the subsequent separation of this love into two and the rising water over the narrator's head suggest a struggle with maintaining this love amidst the complexities of life. The preference for sleep and dreams over waking life indicates a desire to escape reality and find solace in the subconscious, where emotions can be felt more intensely and freely. Grouper's song ultimately captures the delicate balance between the beauty and burden of love, and the refuge found in dreams and the subconscious mind.