The Mythic Cycle of "Touch" by Daft Punk

   The song "Touch" by Daft Punk is one of my favorite songs off of there latest album, Random Access Memories, and as I was doing some homework I decided to give it a listen. Throughout the song different time signatures are weaved in and out of, lyrics are repeated, and different genres occur. It wasn't until today that I had the sudden realization that it was traveling through the Mythic Cycle! It's a long song, but it holds true to what I have declared. Here's the song link for a step by step listen.

   Spring (Birth) Start-2:30: The song begins with wind and simple beats that quickly grow to be more complex. At this point you are about to be born. You here something you've never heard before, wind, and with birth comes happiness to finally be alive. The music stops, mom stopped pushing. You're still left with wind and sound, however the sound is one note continuously. It's as if your heart stopped and the monitor rings with that last note of your life. This is not the case for the different notes have returned! Guess what, mom pushed again and you begin to hear sounds you've never imagined. The wind stops, for it is a common occurrence at this point. Not long after the new sounds you hear a word, "Touch."You have been exposed to the earth and have witnessed the sense of touch. Some more new words are mentioned and you hear a variety of new sounds, only this time it seems as if it's too much. It's too much of a change from where you were and you become frightened, thus the phrase, "Where do I belong?" You question this new area but you feel the need for more. You're used to this world now, but you still question what's happening, thus, "...a visitor it seems" and the emphasis on, "I need something more." The words then stop and the music fades out into, well, something more.

Summer (Youth) 2:31-4:11: During youth you experience romance, hence the "Kiss, suddenly alive" and the beat now seems to be more disco, one easily relatable to teens. Still confusion occurs, as it does with all teens, and also a craving for more. The opening sounds you heard earlier our repeated for a short bit again for you because romance is now a necessity, but it seems so new as did earth, hence the recurrence. Just before you enter the extremely jazzy, poppy, and disco-like set of sounds, you hear a quick classical bit because the older you are, the more you tend to appreciate it,  and you know you are growing up (aging). This genre of sounds continue for a long period of time and then it stops, for you're not young forever.

   Fall (Maturity) 4:12-7:41: The beat quickly took a decline for the slower side, and as everyone knows life comes at you fast, hence the abruptness. Everything you've heard in the past is still there, but slower and autotune-ish because you can't continue the old fast-paced lifestyle you had in your youth, as much as you don't want to admit it. An instrumental build up then progresses it's way through how you use to live and you out of nowhere have the realization that you just can't anymore, so you stop trying, hence the new abrupt "sound" change to something new. Something that sounds more suitable for who you are now. A great classical take on how you use to be combined with a slow and steady choir accompaniment. Your body isn't what it use to be, but that's okay because you are ready for the next part of life, death.

   Winter (Death): 7:42-End: One more time the instrumental builds up for the next chapter in your life and it abruptly hits as the others. Nothing comes about for a brief period of time, but when the music returns we here what we heard first, "Touch", better translated to knowledge at this point. In our life as we try to take in as much as we can, at the end we come to a point where we can no longer take any more, "You've given me too much to feel." When that point arrives it's a bitter sweet feeling for excitement of what's next, but you need it. Heaven or Hell, no matter which it is, you need it to complete the cycle. Without that you're stuck in an experience that can never be completed.

  Who would have thought that two English speaking electronic artists from Europe could say so much with one song? Not me, but I hope it continues. Thanks for reading guys, please let me know what you thought!