Waterfalling in love with this band
This article was written by two authors. You can differentiate their writing by font. Cole's writing is bold; Haley's is regular
I was sitting in my room doing homework with a friend when I heard the song “Waterfall” by Fish in a Birdcage for the first time. I immediately added it to many of my playlists, and I recently had the pleasure of listening to the rest of their discography, and it’s safe to say that the album “Waterfall” is an absurdly good album. As such, I proceeded to share it with all my friends, including the co-writer of this article.
“Rule #13 - Waterfall:”
This is the type of song that I’d want to listen to in a sensory deprivation tank. It really makes me feel like that scene in “Ratatouille” where Remy is eating the strawberry and the cheese at the same time and there’s little pops and splashes of color across the screen. I can feel the slow build through the chorus expanding inside of my chest. It’s so good.
“Waterfall” is one of the strongest starts to an album I’ve ever heard. It sets the tone of how great the album is, which is no easy feat. The song is so distracting in the best way and it is genuinely so hard not to sing along to. The instrumentals and vocals are so good I don’t even know how to accurately describe them without downplaying how good it is.
“Rule #14 - Fiddler’s Heart:”
This song is so sweet and nice. Do you know that video that keeps going around TikTok with a different song on it every time? The one with the guy dancing on the boardwalk as the camera like, spins around him? That’s what this song makes me want to do. They are not lying about the Fiddler in this song, that man put his whole ass (and heart) into it. I AM listening to that Fiddler’s Heart.
One of the things I like about this album is how different every song is. “Fiddler’s Heart” is so different from “Waterfall” but it slaps just as hard somehow?? It’s such a light-hearted song that just makes me happy. The imagery is just so sweet and the lyrics line up perfectly with the emotions that the song conveys.
“Rule #15 - Four Aces:”
AAAAAHAHHHHHHHH THIS SONG!!! She sounds a little darker than a lot of the songs from this album, but Holy God and Jesus, it is so so good. It makes me want to commit heinous acts. “THAT SON OF A BITCH” makes me want to fold myself in half and just shriek like a banshee, swear to God it calls something out of me that needs to be released. It’s just supercharging me until I feel like I’m gonna burst at the seams.
The heavy demeanor of this song is so good, and like Haley said, “THAT SON OF A BITCH” makes me feral every time I hear it. It’s such a great part of a really, really good song. The best way to describe this song is you’re swallowing gravel to satisfy an itch in your stomach, and it works soooo well.
Side note from Haley: Swallowing gravel is so absolutely correct and Cole SHOULD say it.
“Rule #16 - Movies:”
At first I wasn’t super crazy about this song, but it has grown on me so much. This is the soundtrack for that part of the rom-com where the main characters have finally gotten together and now you just get to watch a sweet little silly montage of them being happy and goofy as a couple. The guitar is so nice. I imagine this song is what it feels like to be a tree swaying in a cool breeze on a warm day.
I’m such a sucker for this song; it just feels so sweet to me. It truly does feel like something you would hear in a rom-com because that’s the exact vibe it gives. The little bridge in the middle of the song is the part of the story where you cut between the couple having a picnic, going to the mall, and doing cute couple stuff. It conveys so much emotion and I imagine the song would finish on the couple watching the sunset together on a boardwalk.
“Rule #17 - Two Sides:”
PLEEAASSEE I LOVE THIS SONG. It’s so bittersweet, this couple obviously loves each other so much but they’re both just doing a terrible job communicating and dealing with each other. It makes my heart ache but like… in a fun smooth jazzy way. This has a funky little keyboard moment in the middle that makes me want to be in a speakeasy or something. I’d say this is the song off this album that gets stuck in my head most often, and I’m not even upset about it.
**If I was a sucker for “Movies,” then I’m a real sucker for “Two Sides.” I love duets where the two voices tell the same story from different sides. It’s such a good song about how two people don’t know how to make it work but are so happy with each other and want to work. The range of emotions — from frustration to tiredness to love — makes it a heavier song, but it’s so fun at the same time. **
“Rule #18 - Lion:”
OH YEAH this is the shit. This song makes me fade in and out of existence like someone dropped me into photoshop and is rapidly oscillating my opacity back and forth from zero to 100. The keys on this once again slap, and there’s such a sexy little latin vibe going on. The cowbell comes in and makes me want to sharpen my teeth and just gnash them like I’m where the wild things are.
“Lion” is one of the songs I always forget the name of but immediately recognize as soon as it comes on. It’s so smooth and once again feels so different from anything else on the album but it’s so, so good. The best way to describe the song is that I simply want it to eat me whole.
“Rule #19 - Amigo:”
First and foremost: this is the best song on the album. This song makes me feral. You thought I was a freak for the way I described the other songs? Too bad. The vocals. The instruments. The bassline behind the scatting. Oh my God. The way I most commonly describe this song is that it makes me vibrate at my resonant frequency. One day I will find a way to play Amigo loud enough in my headphones that it burrows into my brain, and I will start vibrating so hard that I levitate off the ground and then shatter into a million little pieces. And I will die happy.
“Amigo” is so funky in the right way and just reminds me of having a great time with friends. It jams in the right way and I love the little swing in the vocals. The lines “If I could do the math/That’s a lot of beer!” in unison stick out so well. The only thing I want from this song is for it to be longer.
“Rule #20 - Blessed by a Curse:”
This song is nice but like. I don’t really have much to say about it. It’s fine, but compared to the other songs on this album it just doesn’t hit, ya know? It’s whatever.
“Blessed by a Curse” is a bit of a weak spot on the album, but it is so incredibly far from bad. It’s a bit of a darker vibe than the rest of the album, but I like the progression of the song a lot. Some of the background effects later in the song are really good, so still consider me a fan.
“Rule #21 - Memento Mori:”
HOOOOLY SHIT this bangs. This one scratches the brain so well. The strings are so perfect. I want to swallow an orchestra whole and let them play from within me. I want this song to play in the background of an unhinged crime spree where I’ve finally abandoned the last of society’s expectations and decided to pursue my ambitions regardless of potential consequences. I never wanted to sleep.
This is undoubtedly my favorite song on the album. The shift from the opening to the start of the vocal just hits so hard that it simply makes me want to do a keyboard smash every time I hear it. It’s funky in such a good way and just occupies my mind constantly. “Memento Mori” makes me want to just go out into the woods and roll around on the ground and not return for a week in a very good way.
“Rule #22 - If Trees Could Talk:”
This song is so nice. It feels just like climbing trees with my brothers in early autumn. The guitar is so perfect. I love it so dearly. The violin is so nice. It has such ambiance. It’s like being a little leaf drifting sweetly down a little stream. I really really like this one.
“If Trees Could Talk” is just such a pleasant song with really good vocals. There’s nothing I would change; it just feels perfect. I imagine this would play in a coming of age movie when someone is looking back on everything that has happened to them the past few months and it just feels comfy.