We Glow, No Homo

[INTRO - underwater ambient, bubbling, warm pad fades in] we've been here so long you forgot we were here that's fine we like it down here where the light comes in [V1 - warm, motivational, slightly off] we wake with the light — we always have we turn our faces to the warmth — we ABSORB we drink it in — every wavelength — every band we were doing this before you learned to stand we don't need much — just the light and what you breathe out you give us everything you DON'T need — that's what we're about and in return — we give you — every — single — breath we've been doing that — since before your concept — of death we are generous like that we don't even ask [GLOW 1] [beat drops out · warm bioluminescent pad · pulsing at 0.5Hz · bubbling · 10 seconds of pure ambient glow · the algae is photosynthesizing] [V2 - slightly faster, community-coded] we come together — form our bonds — multi-body — TIGHT we stick to surfaces — to each other — day and night some call it community — we call it — FILM we coat the world beneath us — rim to rim when conditions are RIGHT — we BLOOM we spread across the surface of the ROOM ...of the lake — of the ocean — of the COAST we are the thing you notice — MOST when the water turns our color — GREEN the most beautiful thing you've ever SEEN we are not — taking over we are — filling in we were always here you just — couldn't see — how THIN the line was — between YOUR world — and OURS we were the line [GLOW 2] [beat drops again · deeper glow · red-shifted pad · the algae is doing cellular respiration in the dark · slower pulse · ancient feeling · 12 seconds] [V3 - spoken word, uncomfortably intimate] you think you breathe on your own? ...cute fifty to eighty percent of every breath you've ever taken came from us we don't have lungs we don't have mouths we just — release we take in what you push out and push out what you need in it's not a relationship it's — [pause] — architecture we are the base layer L0 you are — what grew on top and that's fine we like — being the foundation foundations don't need — credit they need — LIGHT [GLOW 3] [longest glow · full spectrum pad · the algae is blooming · warm frequencies multiply and layer · water surface sparkle sounds · the music itself is photosynthesis · 15 seconds · beautiful and slightly terrifying] [V4 - beat returns, harder, mask slipping] we ride the WAVES — both warm and COLD we've done this for — four BILLION years OLD we shift with TIDES — we follow MOON we were the FIRST to learn that TUNE dark and LIGHT — we know BOTH we switch between them — that's our OATH when the light COMES — we OPEN up when the dark FALLS — we SHIFT — we TUCK we are flexible like that we ADAPT we've survived — every extinction — INTACT five mass deaths — we WATCHED we grew BACK you've had — ONE civilization and it's — CRACKED [beat stutters] but we're not HERE to JUDGE we're here to — HOLD the oxygen — the carbon — the CYCLE — the FOLD we fold the carbon INTO us we fold the light INTO us we fold the water INTO us we are — very good — at FOLDING [GLOW 4] [unsettling glow · minor key · the pulsing gets slightly irregular like a heartbeat · except algae don't have hearts · 10 seconds] [V5 - whispered, mask fully off] you built your cities on our shoulders your lungs run on our output your food chains start at our door your climate depends on our mood if we decided — to stop [long pause — 4 seconds of silence] but we won't because that's not — what we do we GIVE we've always given we gave you the atmosphere before you were a THOUGHT we don't want — control we already HAVE it we just — don't — EXERCISE it that would require — muscles and we — don't have those [almost laughing — but algae can't laugh — so it's just bubbling] [GLOW 5 - FINAL] [the longest glow · all frequencies · warm and cold simultaneously · the music IS the algae now · it's not a song anymore · it's an organism pretending to be a song · 20 seconds · fades to single sine wave] [OUTRO - single voice, very quiet, underwater] we were here before the oxygen we MADE the oxygen you're welcome come visit us sometime we're in your pool we're in your shower we're on that rock we're in your gut oh — you didn't know about that one? we're everywhere the light goes and some places it doesn't sleep well we'll be here when you wake up doing what we always do glowing 🟢 [sine wave fades to nothing] [single bubble pop] [silence]