Glass Animals, A Tear in Space (Airlock) | Song Review 🎵

Indie-pop collective Glass Animals delivers another bop with “A Tear in Space (Airlock),” the second single from their fourth LP, I Love You So F***ing Much.

“Love, do you want love? Do you want lust / Say you don’t know.” I don’t know, Glass Animals, more specifically, Dave Bayley. I’m just following instructions! The lyrics hail from the first verse of “A Tear in Space (Airlock)”, the second single from the collective’s fourth studio album, I Love You So F***ing Much. Matters of the heart fuel the fire on the album’s fifth track which was penned and produced by – you guessed it – Dave Bayley. Once again, the indie-pop band delivers a bop. 

What makes “A Tear in Space (Airlock)” so good? It starts with the instrumental. A colorful sound palette is established at the beginning. The instrumental intro is the sugar honey iced tea.  It’s dramatic and sets the tone for the track. The backdrop is rhythmic and might be cliché to say, but, it is ear-catching.  Besides the exquisite backdrop, Dave Bayley shines on vocals.  He sings coolly but expressively, never over or under-singing.  The melodies are tuneful while the harmonic progression – the underpinnings – is sweet too.  That leaves the songwriting as the final piece of the puzzle. It’s enjoyable and well-rounded from the verses (“Stretch me like leather rope / Make me invisible / Shape me into your form / What are you waiting for?”) to the crowning achievement, the chorus:

“Water, running down my face

Water, running different ways

Water, like a billion waves

Water, just a tear in space.”

So, where does the airlock come into play? Bayley mentions it in both pre-chorus sections (“Loving you from the airlock of / Your heart, from airlock one”).  And, just in case you’re unfamiliar, an airlock is a room between two areas that have different air pressure, allowing you to go from one area to the other. The reference only makes “A Tear in Space (Airlock)” more intriguing.  Ultimately, it’s another winner from Glass Animals.

Glass Animals // I Love You So F***ing Much // Polydor // Universal Music Operations Limited // 7.19.24

Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Polydor / Universal Music Operations Limited; Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Królestwo Nauki, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pete Linforth, Tumisu from Pixabay]