Unsustainable (song)
| Muse song | |
|---|---|
| Name | The 2nd Law: Unsustainable |
| Album/single | The 2nd Law (12) |
| Length | 3:48 |
| Alternative titles | Unsustainable |
| First live performance | 16th October 2012 |
| Latest live performance | 15th October 2019 |
| Recorded | 2011-2012 |
| Writer/composer | Matthew Bellamy |
| Producer | Muse |
| Song Nav | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid State | < | The 2nd Law: Unsustainable | > | The 2nd Law: Isolated System |
| Album Nav | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Resistance (2009) | < | The 2nd Law (2012) | > | Drones (2015) |
Description
Doom-drenched operas full of newsreel reports from the end of civilisation, rapping Terminators, trumpets inflating like lifeboats and Exorcist piano pulses tinkling goodbye to the globe. "It's the noise of humanity on a tiny planet in the middle of nothing," says Matt. "Hanging around space would be so peaceful and quiet and suddenly you come to this little blip that's f-----g chaos! I see it as drifting away from the planet and going into the peacefulness of what actually is gonna happen at the end of it all, which is nothingness."[1]
When earlier describing the album on twitter Matt was possibly referring to 'The 2nd Law: Unsustainable' as 'ambient rebellious dubstep'. The piece starts with an orchestral section with choral emphasis, that gradually builds up to a climax. During a build up, a female voice reads the above text, at the end of which, a heavily effected, vocoder-style voice enters with the word 'unsustainable'. A dubstep-style section follows, utilising pick scrapes, Twisty Kaoss Pad, KAOSS Pad manipulations and other sounds typical of Bellamy's guitar style, backed with drums and bass and fragmented repetitions of the word 'unsustainable'.
This song has been used in the official trailer for The 2nd Law.
The song is a unique mix of classical music, progressive rock and dubstep.
After the first 'Dubstep' breakdown, the song goes into the heavier drum beat, featuring a Whammy guitar, mildly distorted bass and a loop of the robot sound. Matt's voice is momentarily featured, but the song's 'lyrics' are narrated by Katie Razzall, a channel 4 news reporter, and the robot voice.
Information
By error of Bellamy, Howard, Wolstenholme or Kirk, the name of the song was leaked by a photo on Twitter, until it was deleted.
On 4th June 2012 Matt tweeted the following text:[2]
All natural and technological processes proceed in such a way that the availability of the remaining energy decreases. In all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves an isolated system, the entropy of that system incre,cre,cre,cre,c,c,creases. Energy continuously flows from being concentrated, to becoming dispersed, spread out, wasted and useless. New energy cannot be created and high grade energy is being destroyed. An economy based on endless growth is...
With the missing word being "Unsustainable".
The song appears to feature in a trailer for The 2nd Law, released on 6th June 2012, making it the first song released from The 2nd Law. According to Matt he is 'just gonna go mental on the Whammy pedal' on this song.
On 13th July 2012, Muse tweeted the same picture with Dom and the names leaked in a board, but with the working titles replaced by the new album tracking list. During the recording process, the working title was "Unsustainable".
Live
Unsustainable used to be an opener until recently, replaced by The 2nd Law: Isolated System. Unsustainable is now featured after Stockholm Syndrome and the encore. With that, the visual aspect also had to be changed so the face of the robot and the news reporter (seen in the music video) were also placed on the pyramid aswell as the screens like before.
When performing live, Muse usually come on stage during the middle of the intro orchestra.
During the US leg of The 2nd Law tour, Muse started using CO2 cannons for the song.
Unsustainable returned for the Drones Tour as the fourth song from the album to be played during the tour, first performed in Shanghai, China on 21 September 2015. Fans hypothesized that this was because of the fact that the band could not perform certain Drones-era songs, such as The Handler or Defector, and other songs that could be deemed unsuitable, such as United States of Eurasia and Uprising, in China, and thus the band needed replacements for these songs. This is thought to be why the song and Feeling Good were premiered in China.
Release
The song's music video, featuring the full song has been made downloadable on August 9th, 2012, when buying the Deluxe Box Set of The 2nd Law on muse.mu. It has not been released as a single.
Lyrics
All natural and technological processes,
Proceed in such a way that the availability Of the remaining energy decreases. In all energy exchanges, if no energy Enters or leaves an isolated system, The entropy of that system increases. Energy continuously flows from being Concentrated to becoming dispersed, Spread out, wasted and useless. New energy cannot be created and high grade Energy is being destroyed. An economy based on endless growth is Unsustainable
Unsu... Unsustain unsustain unser Uns' uns' unsustainer unsustainer Unsu... Unsustain Unsustain Uns' uns' you're unsustainable
The fundamental laws of thermodynamics will Place fixed limits on technological innovation And human advancement. In an isolated system; the entropy Can only increase A species set on endless growth is Unsustainable
Unsu... Unsustain unsustain unser Uns' uns' unsustainer unsustainer Unsu... Unsustain Unsustain Uns' uns' you're unsustainable.
References
- ↑ http://www.muselive.com/index.php?m=single&id=6747
- ↑ Matthew Bellamy. (2012-06-04). New energy cannot be created .... Twitter. Retrieved 2012-06-04 from twitter.com.