Songfacts®:

• This song begins with a synth part before vocalist Faris Badwan starts crooning bleak, existential lines about crashing waves leaving us with nothing. The singer told Mojo magazine that he enjoys writing lyrics about the uncontrolled power of nature: "I like the stuff that you can't pin down, they're my favourite things," he said. "I don't like it when things are clearly defined, and I don't like boundaries and being hemmed in. I like being able to use my imagination, for me my imagination is the most precious thing."
• Tom Cowan said of his opening synth part to The Quietus: "I just kind of got really into effects and chord changes. That kind of came first and then the rest of it came after. It's weird because it's not really got anything to do with the rest of the track. It's just there and it sets this mood that then changes very quickly."