Perfect Songs - How Loud Your Heart Gets by Lucius

For a few months now, I've been listening to this band and going back and forth between a few songs, but there's one in particular that I think has to fall into a different category. Quite often we use the term "cinematic" to describe things like books and music. What we mean when we use it can vary. Are we talking about the techniques of film making? Are we talking about a specific genre? A specific film? It all depends on what is being described, really. I find this song to be cinematic in that it makes me think of a specific genre of film, and even make me think of the specific film this song would play in, even though that film doesn't actually exist. More than just thinking of the story of the song, I see the story as a movie, and while that movie may not be perfect, I think the song is.

Lucius – How Loud Your Heart Gets

             

The lyrics are actually pretty minimalistic, but the few repeated lines, along with the swelling music really communicate a very specific feeling of being in love. It's a John Hughes kind of love that might even be unrequited and impossible. It's about friends separated by a million miles and obstacles and igloo forts, but a love that can still be heard. There's not enough in the song to see the beginning of the movie in any detail: the parts where they grow up together, talking about everything, exploring the world. Maybe they were neighbors. Maybe one of them always had a secret crush on the other. Maybe one was a nerd and the other was popular. Maybe neither one was ever really aware of their feelings for the other, but maybe they shared a first innocent, experimental kiss. We also don't see how they grow up, fall in love with someone else, or not, have children or not, move away, or not. Lose touch. Lose a spouse. Lose parents. Lose their way. We don't see how they eventually reconnect via a funeral, or a reunion, or a coincidence, or Facebook. We don't see the initial spark that they feel on reconnecting. We don't see how their lives are a complete mess, or not. We don't see them spending more time with each other. Or just talking on the phone. Or exchanging emails. We don't see them acting like children again and being happy. We don't see the gradual realizations they each have. Or just one has and then awkwardly expresses, scaring the other away. But we do see how when they get back to their regular lives, they can't stop thinking about each other. They can't just go back to life as if nothing happened, away from the only person who knows how loud their heart gets. We see that there must have been a spark, because as the music swells, so does a flame that cannot be denied. We see the impulsive purchase of plane tickets, or a phone call, or running toward each other from millions of miles apart. We see them coming to get each other to never let go. And the thing is, I hate romantic comedies that end on a fairy tale. But I guess with this song, I might just have to go along with it.