Song Description
Raise the Fourth opens in dissonance.
Isla isn’t hiding behind metaphor. She’s tracing a moment she once imagined might end her and singing about it as if it already has.
In another version, the ending floods. Here, it freezes. A still surface. Porcelain. Beneath it sits a quiet, unnerving calm, the kind that only comes from surviving something the mind has already lived through once.
Lyrics
Milk glass light, chipped rim, tilt the cup, don’t drink
Count tiles in threes, three three, then I forget
I keep the quiet on the outside of my mind, mind
I press my mind into a crack deep inside
No nice sounds, only layers with the wires crossed
And my thin white line, look close, it’s smiling wrong
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
I’m fine, I’m fine, hear the porcelain lie
I ride cloud stairs, white sound
Tears like dry rain on brass, your notebook learns to breathe
I walk the long way round the same small square
Because circles hide the exits I can’t say out loud
My pulse, three three, white ash, two two two
I meet me on the offbeat, pretend it’s planned
I mouth the word open, bite the O in half
I wear a black shirt under a fluorescent storm
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Hold the breath, don’t spend it yet
Glass above glass, a city inside a raindrop
Voice turns to silver thread, then moths, then holds ash
Tongue numb, teeth ring, the rain drowns politely
I float facedown in a ball of light and call it prayerless
Shiver notes climb the air, the minute forgets its job
I don’t move, the room moves for me
Needle up, bright sting through bone
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Static in the molars, blue flicker in the tap water
Static in the molars, blue flicker in the tap water
Static in the molars, blue flicker in the tap water
Three three, two two two
No answers, only handles
If I am porcelain, strike me soft and listen
If I am flood, put your sheet music on the surface and read me by ripples
I’ll be the misprint that makes the line unforgettable
I’ll be the door that sings when no one’s near
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Raise the hinge, sing me open
Stand inside the cold and call it something gentle
Count the cracks again, three three, two two two
No answers, only handles
If I am porcelain, strike me soft and listen
If I am flood, put your sheet music on the surface and read me by ripples
I’ll be the misprint that makes the line unforgettable
I’ll be the door that sings when no one’s near
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Leave the hinge singing, let the hinge sing me open
Static in the molars, blue flicker in the tap water
Static in the molars, blue flicker in the tap water
Stand inside the cold and call it something gentle
Count the cracks again, three three, two two two
No answers, only handles
If I am porcelain, strike me soft and listen
If I am flood, put your sheet music on the surface and read me by ripples
I’ll be the misprint that makes the line unforgettable
I’ll be the door that sings when no one’s near
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Raise the fourth, cut the room, leave the hinge singing
Let the hinge sing, let the hinge sing me open