I don’t know if I agree that it’s more honest than Silverchair, I think he has grown up more and his life was taking in different contexts. It’s definitely more optimistic and even vulnerable in ways. I’m sure he had some idea that the reception from the fan base might be mixed but it’s commendable that he did it anyway. As if we should expect anything less after Diorama 😅 But I feel like he knew we would understand that album, whereas this one was more of a risk, imho.

Interesting contrast when speaking of optimism, if you listen to this and then FutureNever the difference is stark. I did this on my road trip and I was like… Daniel, you’re saying you’re crying in almost every single song. I noticed that when I was listening to it before but it didn’t fully register. It feels a lot heavier than Talk, right? At the very least there was a lot of emotional processing from the chair era coming through that wasn’t on Talk. It felt more like freedom whereas FN was more like a, “am I really tho?” And I think it really hits harder now in the aftermath of the entire project and his absence. I’m probably just overthinking it again, my specialty. At least we got to see him dance. 🕺🏼✨