The Universe Online’s fourth release this month is a glitchy, mumbly ballad that sounds like it was improvised in the midst of a lonely night, maybe around 3 AM.
Where some Universe Online tracks forego vocals, the human voice takes center stage here, mournfully sifting through phrases and thoughts like an internet-dwelling Gertrude Stein overtop a creeping, faintly glimmering instrumental. The words slur together, and the lyrics read as pure stream of consciousness: “Just you and I trying to get our groove on now/Trying not to live the lie/You look alone sometimes but I don’t need to know […] I want you to be you in you love with just one and one and maybe two.” Concrete meanings arise only briefly, but the feeling registers on a deeper level. When the song ends with the strangely prophetic line, “Return of the dog, return of the dog,” and glitches out into nothingness, you feel like you’ve experienced something profound, even if you can’t quite place it.
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