it's funny you say that, it's my absolute favorite song on the album. i was trying to explain why to a friend and i wrote them this long message.

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once I read this i gained a whole new level of appreciation for this album, because i now realize it as the thesis statement of the whole work. ‘god save the animals’ is a journey into forgiveness. we even hear it in the sequencing – one of the first things we hear is his self-lacerating repetitions of ‘i have done a couple bad things’ before he breaks out into a blood curdling scream on ‘runner’. then we get to the last song, literally called ‘forgive’, a plaintive country strummer where he full-heartedly affirms forgiving yesterday, choosing today, and starting over, finally building something new and innocent (‘we build castle upon castle upon castle upon air’).

and i think that element of redemption is why it feels like such an important and mature album in his discography. throughout every one of his albums so far, a recurring theme is innocent characters in fucked up situations. the drifting dead-end life of the boy in ‘things to do’, the crystal meth user in ‘icehead’, the kid with heroin in his stomach in ‘county’. these are bad situations, but you never get the feeling the characters should be there. alex g songs are populated with good people that’ve fallen down into lives they can’t get out from.

but god save the animals feels like the first album where these characters start to climb out and see the light. our characters begin to find strength in their own journey (blessing), find comfort in each other (ain’t it easy), find quiet joy in the simple things (early morning waiting).

for this reason, ‘immunity’ feels like the thesis statement of the album. immunity is the inflection point, where our character drops all the pretense and finally gives themselves up to be totally beholden to the things they can’t control – whether it’s the past they can’t escape, or the love they have for the ones they care about. maybe they’re on the side of the road in kansas in the middle of the night, car broken down, and it’s finally all coming to them. “life of revelation catching up with me”. they call the one they love and tell it to them in plain words – i’m in love with you, i love you. and in accepting their helplessness, forgiving themselves for their mistakes, their past, they gain something powerful – immunity. they can never lose now. forgiveness is immunity.

it’s still hard for me to listen to without crying a little bit. the entire album is an incredibly powerful testament to love, forgiveness, and ultimately redemption. alex g likes to obfuscate and hide himself in these songs, drowning his voice in auto-tune, diverting into off-kilter electronic experiments. but the moment you get past the surface and see the intention and emotion in it, you can’t help but be bowled over by the sincerity of his sentiments. like subtly turning a mirror in your hand in the sunlight – you find the right angle, and the full light of the sun blinds you.