Invisible Empire

Album: Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is about how someone creates a fantasy of their own life before realizing that it's all rubbish. Tunstall penned the song before she ended her four-year marriage to drummer Luke Bullen, who was also the drummer in her band, and its musical director. However, the lyrics reflect the sense of foreboding she felt. "I wrote that before things happened," she told The Daily Mail. "But that was my life. All the boxes ticked but I wasn't happy. Clearly, in my subconscious I understood what was going on."
  • Tunstall explained the song's meaning to The Daily Telegraph: "This song is the title track of the first half of the record, and sets the scene. It's about creating a reality that is only based on what you want to see, not what's real. It'll either come crashing down, or you'll want to set it alight yourself to find the truth."

    "It's about the idea that if you try and control life, you kill it," she continued, "but if you let it flow in its own way, it can flourish."

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