Brother Dolly Delivers a Thought-Provoking Track with “As I Fall I Feel Alive”
Lemme ask you this, have you ever wondered what goes through someone’s head the exact moment they get knocked out? Like during a boxing fight, I ain’t talking about the part where they wake up with a headache, but that tiny split second between the punch landing and the body hitting the floor. That particular moment, what do they feel, do they begin to think it was all a mistake, or do they feel like yeah it what it is and here I am. It sounds a bit dark, but Brother Dolly just turned that exact moment into a song called “As I Fall I Feel Alive,” and it is honestly fascinating.
You might be wondering who would have thought of that, but here we are. The band is a bit of a global puzzle, why do I say so? Well that’s cos you’ve got Dan Whitehouse in Japan and the UK, Jason Tarver in Barcelona, and Tom Greenwood in Yorkshire. They call their style “folktronica,” which basically means they take traditional folk vibes and mash them up with glitchy electronic beats. And tbh they know what they doing. What’s intriguing about them is how they use “found sounds” and random samples, so the music feels like it’s fizzing with a weird, nervous energy even though the tempo is actually pretty chilled out.
Now let’s dig into the story behind the song and it’s inspiration. This song was actually inspired by the death of a boxer named Paul Bamba, yeah I know you might be thinking oh then it’s a sad tribute. Well nope, it’s not just a sad tribute, but rather they are asking these big, weird questions—like, does a fighter feel a sense of freedom while they are falling? Do humans secretly get addicted to the struggle?
What actually goes through their mind at the point of fall, like you’d also want to know what they were thinking right. So it’s a bit of a deep dive into how beautifully messed up we all are. Why do we keep going back for more when it clearly hurts? Sometimes even in relationships, you ask, why am I still with this person when they are even hurting me, but there’s that hope that it will all work out and probably that’s why they keep going even when it hurts.
When you pay attention to the track as it plays, you realize it has this “ghost in the machine” feel to it, like it’s got that little bit spookiness but also very tender. It doesn’t sound like a typical pop song you’d hear at the mall. It feels like you’ve accidentally tuned into a radio frequency from the future. The vocals are soft, but the background is full of these interesting little clicks and hums that keep your brain busy.
I love what this critic said about it, he said it’s “bold and imaginative,” and I kinda agree with what he said. Cos it’s the kind of song you put on when you wanna think out loud and you feel like a philosopher. The beauty about this track is, it’s the band’s second big release, following a track called “Transmission Number 5,” and to me, it really proves they know how to tell a story using noise as much as lyrics.
The track has got a mood, so I say if you want something that makes you think while you nod your head to a glitchy beat, give “As I Fall I Feel Alive” a listen . It’s a strange, beautiful look at why we push ourselves to the limit.
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