Twenty One Pilots – Kitchen Sink (Track Of The Day, 7th February)

Music transports, heals and soothes. Twenty One Pilots are good at making music that does all of the above, and their song “Kitchen Sink”, from Regional At Best album is our Track Of The Day today for that reason.

From the beginning of “Kitchen Sink”, with the droplet and tinkling effects, we feel a slowing down inside and a catching of breath. A piano melody starts, light and unobtrusive, we are okay.

There’s a drop and an expansion of that melody, with vocals, drums, and other instruments joining. It feels spacious and breath-taking. We’re captivated.

“Nobody thinks what I think” in rap/spoken word is the unconventional introduction and we’re paying attention now, hanging on every word that’s emotionally and waveringly at times spoken over piano and sound effects.

The drum hits and we’re asked with passion now, almost pleading:

“OK friend?
Are you searching for purpose?
Then write something, yeah it might be worthless
Then paint something then, it might be wordless
Pointless curses, nonsense verses
You’ll see purpose start to surface
No one else is dealing with your demons
Meaning maybe defeating them
Could be the beginning of your meaning, friend.”

Befriended, encouraged, demanded to try, despite worthlessness and pointlessness, we’re feeling it all now, shaken awake and noticing a shifting inside ourselves. And our heart aches with the fight, whether demons or ourselves.

Go away.
Leave me alone.

But it doesn’t stop, it goes into a fluid rap, a stream of words as we sit and just take it all in. The drums build, the vocals layer upon themselves, and we feel probably more than we expected that we might, in a song with a name as silly as “Kitchen Sink”.

LEAVE ME ALONE
DON’T LEAVE ME ALONE!

Now one big giant goosebump, our every cell flooded with music and inspiration and tiny sparks of creativity, we wonder.. what. just. happened. A lone piano, playing its melody anyway, without fanfare of drums or vocals, farewells us.

Lose yourself in this.