Intimacy. Still the best album I've ever heard. Still has resonances outside of music for me. I could listen to it in its entirety all the time. If I was feeling a little unsure or if I was just feeling a little down, I'd put it on and feel the world slide into place. It captures the spark of relationship forming, all the way to the dying ember that it almost always ends up as. I would listen to it if I felt the need to escape the dilemmas of relationship life and it helped me through the tough decisions of decided to enter a union.

I love Ares. Ares to me, is the start. It is that build up of rebelliousness that brings two together. The moments where you both are on the edge. The common interests unite you, the excitement enthuses you. To me, it is the act of impressing. The whirlwind courtship that all teens dream of. The rebels against the cause. Love and angst sometimes walk hand in hand.

Mercury is that stage where you kinda start to think about things. The coming of realisation, and the confusion it brings. "This is not the time to start a new love" - they are the words everyone will eventually come to. We've all had the moments where we kinda sit and wonder if this the right thing. I've just come out of a relationship and Mercury rings true to me. I'm faced with all these decisions and all the choices, the planets don't align. It is biting your tongue, kind of unsure of the answer. "When I saw you last night, I wanted to say. Run away with me, away from these cynics. That this could be the start of, something truly real. But all that I could say was hey, was hey, was hey"

Halo was my first favourite from the album. Halo is desire. Halo is when I look at you. Halo is almost animalistic. It is open and gets right to the point. I remember looking at a girl and having the song going through my head as I looked at her. That was the greatest whirlwind romance. This song is a whirlwind. I love it's intensity and honesty.

Biko is a song about loss. I remember reading the lyrics to this song before I had the album and feeling really down. The song is about a lover that has cancer and is dying of it. It is a pleading. Biko is a term of endearment in Igbo, it's what you call your loved one. "If I could eat your cancer I would, but I cant" I've come close to breaking down whilst listening to this song, thinking of the possible loss of a loved one. "Don't you know that when you stand, you stand up for the both of us. Remember that when the darkness looms. every tear you shed is cleansing, taking the pain away from you. I left you blueberries in the fridge, the little things that I can do. I need you to be strong, for us." I later found out that blueberries have properties that can help fight against cancer. That right there almost broke me in half.

Trojan Horse, hahaha ahhh. Trojan Horse is that stage in the relationship where things start going down hill. "You used to take your watch off before we made love, you didn't want to share our time with anyone. You used to close your eyes when we kissed goodbye, you didn't want to see me draped in sadness." I know the Trojan Horse stage of the relationship pretty well i must say. It makes me laugh because when I felt that creeping up, I listened to the song and it never bothered me after that. What put me at wa the chorus, "You know I still adore you, but in a different kind of way. You know I still adore you, but things have gotten vague. Baby I don't ask for much but things have gotten convieninent. You know I still adore you, but things have kinda changed." I once sent a girl the lyrics to this song over a facebook message as my way of breaking up with it.

Signs is another sad song. It is basically the companion to Biko. It is the remembering of the lover that died. The first opening words are some of my favourite, "Two ravens in the old oak tree and, on for you and one for me and, blue bells in the late December, I see signs now all the time." The whole song to me is just a dreamy state of remembering. "I could sleep forever these days 'cause in my dreams I see you again. But this time fleshed out, fuller face, in your confirmation dress." "At your funeral I was so upset. In your life you were larger than this, statuesque." This song still haunts me. "I see signs now all the time, that you're not dead, you're sleeping. I believe in anything that brings you back home to me."

One Month Off, such a great song. "Seven years between us seems that all my friends were right. That we cant survive on your bedroom eyes and, a spanish guitar. When we started this it was paradise, not just Bethnal Green. And it's just not right, this waiting game, making a cuckold of me." I love this song. it is the stage of the relationship where all the trust seems to have disappeared. The end is nigh. The moment where your partner just doenst have the same eyes for you anymore. You sit asking questions of yourself. You wonder what going on but you're still willing to try make it work. I remember sitting in a room with a girl and having this unfold before me. The moments in relationships that seem to stress others usually make me laugh. "And it's just not like me to lash out but, enough is enough. Tell me what the others can do, that I cant. Translucent and sun-bleached skin, when did you get so LA? How can you desert me after all we've been through? Stuck on a dream that 'somewhere' is better, you'll be the one missing out." I've never been the most vocal about my feelings, not when the songs speak them so loudly already.

Zephyrus is a song I once had quoted to me. It is about trying to connect. The point where you both are kind of pulling away. Your interests are dividing you. "And all you said, in your quietest voice, was 'I needed you as much as they do." I had someone say something along those lines to me, I didn't understand it fully til I listened to this song. She just wanted to be part of me again. I was so caught up in so many other things that she felt neglected and until that moment, I was too blind to see. I really love this song, it has a special place in my heart.

Talons, one of my all time favourites. A song that I assume is about the realisation of the cancer? It is the moment of receiving the devastating news. "No bolt nor brick, nor crucifix can hold it back." The chorus is one of the best. "When it comes, it will feel like a kiss. Silent and velvet." It was my favourite of the album for a very long time and still is high up there.

Better Than Heaven. I'm at a loss for words with this one. The song just comes at me form every corner of the universe. "Never been a big fan of things, but I'm growing so fond of you" It is the unashamed addressing of an issue. The moments of spontaneity are gone, the staleness of repetition has set in and all that needed is the spark again. "You can use your hands for something, I'll take you further than the scholars can. Put down your books and modest me, heaven is here, where it needs to be." I remember thinking of the days where I'd see my girlfriend and we would have insane adventures. There was a time where I thought there were no ends to the kind of surprises this girl had to offer. She spoke to my every desire to be outside the box. The settling into a routine finally happened, I guess we just got too comfortable. I would listen to this song and miss those times.

Ion Square. This is the song of all songs when it comes to being fully satisfied in the relationship. Ion Square is the ultimate moment in the relationship. The moment of pure bliss and happiness, where everything just revolves around this person. You can't seem to think of a time when they weren't your be all and end all. "Ion Square, perspex swings. I breathe out, you breathe in." It is the dreamy understanding. I love this song considerably. "How we've come to depend on each other, till the end. The space between us has disappeared, you finish my, you finish my words for me." One of my favourite parts of this song is, "I remember how it began, so many great days in a row. Barefoot on Bishop's Gate, trying to find Blake's grave." It speaks to me. I yearn for an adventure where I feel myself warming up to this person beside me. I love the thought of these two people that have come to find each other in this way. "I carry your heart, here with me. I carry it in my heart". The whole song just makes me so happy. I want an Ion Square moment.

Letter To My Son. Hahaha now here is a song that carries so much weight. Basically it is a song about a guy that's overwhelmed by the fact that he is suddenly a father. It is the telling of how they got to that point and how she was so hard to resist but the outcome ultimately wasn't what he wanted. It opens with the line, "I found myself at the point where we kissed first. Overlooking the East London mosque." I remember sitting atop a rooftop with a girl, knowing full well that all the previous months of back and forths had finally lead to this moment, I had those words ringing through my ears. "They said, you can't go around breaking young girl's hearts. I said, keep it casual, easy thing." I would often go over those words in my head when dealing with her, it always made me feel more disjointed and thus I never felt like I was ever going to get burnt. This song has so many gems in it. "See what trouble we could both cause, by the bedroom door, the kitchen floor. Oh Marlena I'm too young, to be the father to our son." I sing those words loud all the time.

Your Visits Are Getting Shorter. This is another one of those songs that centres around the insecurities of a relationship. "Your visits are getting shorter, your heart is getting further from me. Your touch is getting colder, away somewhere you need to be. Boys on your left side, boys on your right. Boys from your maths class, who'll do anything you want." "Let's spend the whole day in bed then, cause if we don't you will want to leave. I try to hold something I can't ever keep." I think it's the perfect example. I love how the words ring true for so many people. You hear of the same concerns from basically everyone in a relationship.

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