Greetings everyone and welcome to the lair of the Nattie for this week I bring you a
Nat Reviews 'special' of sorts for the Halloween season.
This is the series where I take a look at a random piece of media and give my thoughts
on it.
This week around we will be taking a look at a rather early
song by the group Imagine Dragons, that being their song from 2012, Lost Cause.
Let us dive in, muahahaha.
Okay, so what is Lost Cause?
It is a song I feel may be a bit forgotten now and it was released just weeks after It's
Time.
So it's a fair bit of an early one for them.
It was also released just weeks after Night Visions originally
came out in September 2012.
So that is the era we are going to be experiencing here.
Just before they hit it big with Radioactive and
the other tracks from Night Visions.
Okay, so why would I be taking a look at a song I feel may be forgotten?
Well, it's this song that actually introduced me to Imagine Dragons in the first place.
Yes, a song that is very obscure in their discography is what introduced
me to them, strange isn't it?
But yes, this song came from the soundtrack to a movie I was very much interested in at
the time, that being Frankenweenie.
Yup, I talk so much about Imagine Dragons' soundtrack work and it's a soundtrack song
that helped me discover them, fun.
But yes, how many people actually remember Frankenweenie?
I fear it's become a forgotten movie, but I found it fascinating and I love it's visual
style and everything.
It also may catch your attention but yes, sort of Halloween themed song and movie, what
are the odds I review it so close to Halloween and it be my Halloween 'Special'?
I didn't even plan that one out haha, but yup!
Halloween-ish themes all around this week!
I won't spoil what happens in Frankenweenie but I have a connection to the movie still
thanks to this song, I still enjoy the movie!
But does the song still hold up?
I haven't heard it in so long, but let's find out!
Alrighty, so first things first, this song doesn't have an official music video, so I
am unable to take a look at that.
The group weren't big at the time, so it's understandably so.
Plus, yknow, soundtrack songs didn't tend to be as big then as they are now, so likely
something there too.
Compared to others on the soundtrack Imagine Dragons were not a big name, for
the time being that is.
Many of the names big on the album were ones big during the early to mid-2010s indie wave.
Names like Awolnation, Plain White T's, Passion Pit, Mark Foster, Neon
Trees, Skylar Gray, and Robert Smith.
Imagine Dragons hadn't even really made a name for themselves mainstream at the time
but they had been growing in their name with their many year
long concert tours, eventually signing with Alex da Kid.
But yes, Imagine Dragons at this time were growing their name amongst the indie rock
community at the time, known for blending their sound by mixing many genres together.
Night Visions was a sign of those years of developing their
sound.
That album had a vast array of sounds as they produced the album for years.
It's Time even was from before Platz joined the group.
But the early years of Imagine Dragons I hope to cover in a future review, I wanna focus
on the story around this song for now.
Like I did on my previous September reviews.
The makers of the album, Disney (Odd, my last two reviews for Imagine Dragons involve them
doing a song for Disney, huh), had gathered many artists together, I believe in an attempt
to be 'with the times' since they saw the trend
was facing towards indie musicians.
Imagine Dragons were in reach as Skylar Grey was around, so there could be that as a reason.
This song isn't talked about often so info on it is scarce.
But I notice something with the music titles on the album, they seem to be a bit angsty
and aimed towards young adults of the time.
Eh, I don't know what the other songs are like, it's been ages since I've heard them,
but eh, who knows.
Just working off titles.
But alright, let's move onto the song now!
Alright, so the song itself starts with a bit of a spooky sound, as to be expected for
the movie's theme.
It starts slow and spooky with a contorted bit of audio.
There is something that is immediately obvious to me and that is what the song sounds like.
It is very much of the vein of Alex's work around the time, he was in his prime at the
time doing songs for many groups including ones
that got extremely successful.
This song has a strong similarity to one of Alex's songs around the time, which coincidentally
included Skylar Grey, that being I Need A Doctor.
Like, listen to each song back to back (Links in description) and you'll notice that instrumentally
the songs are eerily similar.
Okay, so instrumentally the song doesn't entirely resemble a song from Night Visions, likely
why it wasn't included on anything for that album.
But yes there is the dark sound that Night Visions had, but as for things aside
the dark sound, it doesn't sound like the music Imagine Dragons were doing at the time.
It is definitely a Imagine Dragons song of the time
just in the lyrical department.
Lyrically it's very 2012 Imagine Dragons, instrumentally it's I Need A Doctor and Alex
da Kid's style of the time.
Heavy in drums/drum machines, heavy industrial sound and dark rock.
It was the industrial rock of the time I was beginning to discover by the way and I was
interested, so this song went really well into it.
What is the song lyrically like?
Well, it is very inspired by the movie from my memory of it.
The parts of burying someone and saying they are all that person has, yes.
It relates to the movie very well in that sense.
The dark sound blends with the movie too for what it was trying to do.
I do note a comparison of my own of this song to Blue October's Hate Me, as in
the protagonist wants the other person to be rid of the protagonist for their own good.
There isn't the suicidal themes of Zero or Hate Me, but it's still suggesting of it.
The protagonist feels they are deep in depression and can't be freed or raised back to positivity.
They feel hopeless and feel they are hurting their friends and loved ones by sticking
around.
The shallow grave part suggests that to me that they feel they are worthless.
They find comfort in a certain friend and value them highly however as a note there.
The lyrics to me suggest this, but you can have any other view on it yourself.
I am sure there are many ways the lyrics can be taken, this is just my thoughts.
I will give one little side note before moving onto the conclusion, but I notice that the
way one is being buried and in a shallow grave, this really reminds me of Natural's music
video, where Dan Reynolds did this exact thing.
So maybe that bit was a call back to this song?
Who knows.
But yes, onto the conclusion.
Well, the song is certainly of it's time.
It is perhaps the darkest song the group has ever made, dealing with death and hopelessness.
The song has never been performed live and it is
not found on any streaming platforms, it appears the song is extremely mysterious and is almost
like it's trying to be covered up by the group or the label.
There is surprisingly scarce information on this song even on the internet.
The song is a forgotten gem of the band and it appears that is how it will stay.
But I am glad to share it with you, videos for it are
scarce but one is linked below.
The song holds a very special place for me being the one that introduced me to the group.
It's dark themes also work well for this time of year, being
Halloween and all, so certainly do check it out as it really goes well with the season's
themes!
You definitely should check it out if you enjoy Alex da Kid's work and the early 2010s
era of alt rock music/indie rock/rock music.
Okay, so what would I rate it if I had to?
Well, it's a gem of a song buried by the sands of time and it is very much forgotten about
or unknown to many it seems.
It deserves a listen for the curious, but as a song overall aside
the mystery...
I think the song probably gets a A- from me, the special place it has just swings it to
the A range, the mystery is interesting to me as well.
But yes, overall the song is very of it's time and goes neatly with the movie soundtrack
songs Imagine Dragons did at the time, even if at the same time it stands out for
being such an oddity.
Check it out if curious, but yes, the song gets my recommendation.
I don't even need to answer this if you've been around my channel or seen my other Imagine
Dragons reviews, but the answer is most certainly yes!
This was the song that introduced me to them in general.
Now, six years later, that continues!
My enjoyment of their stuff has went through period of ups and downs but I still look forward
to their new stuff even so.
Origins, their follow up to Evolve, will be coming out November 9th and I am very much
looking forward to it, though I would like some more singles released first to get a
feel for the album more.
But as for their work aside albums, I think they have mostly stopped doing music directly
for movies, compared to how they were years ago, but their music is still used
very widely among many medias.
This is getting a bit off topic, but yes, the answer is certainly!
As for the movie?
It is definitely one I feel people should check out more, it's a very odd movie from
the time and it's interesting to me.
Odd how I remember it still so much even this long after seeing it the one time.
Definitely worth checking out for the curious.
I won't spoil what happens in it, so don't worry.
It's a movie I still hold dear from my childhood for
all it was.
Do give it a look if you wish, but yes, appears we've reached the end.
Alright, so that just about does us this week for the spooky nature of the holiday!
Hope you all have a wonderfully spooky time this Halloween, just... don't try reanimating
the dead like in the movie.
This has been your hostess Nattie, thank you for spending some time with me in my lair.
Now go flee before the monsters begin rising from the night.
Oh, dig my shallow grave 'Cause it's not me you'll save
'Cause I'm a lost cause I'm a lost cause
A lost, lost cause
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