Clarity isn’t the band’s strong suit. Still, the singer seems to yearn for the accepting embrace of “Home.” He refuses to surrender to someone he accuses of being inauthentic (“The Pretender”) and mourns the passing of a relationship (“Let It Die”). “Erase/Replace” objects to partners making each other empty promises.
Instead of changing course on the “Long Road to Ruin,” a man concludes, “I’ve sealed my fate/Running through hell, heaven can wait.” Tobacco and a blasphemous “g–d–n” mar “Stranger Things Have Happened.” A dark season of someone’s life was “sterilized with alcohol,” presumably the thirst-quenching kind (“Come Alive”). A possible wink at marijuana is among the recollections on “Statues” (“We got high”). In addition to a mention of cherry wine, “Summer’s End” beckons a lover, “Come inside my bed.”
Near the start of this disc, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl declares, “I’m finished making sense.” That explains his hauntingly ambiguous poetry, which drops questionable lines into muddy surroundings. Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace could have been titled Loneliness, Anguish, Escape & Regret.
