Haelos Share 10 Intense Lyrics That Inspire Them
Photographer: David Ma
Rising U.K. trio feels big feels with Bob Dylan, Mos Def, and more.
On Haelos' recently released debut, Full Circle, the buzzworthy Brits create spacious, seductive electro-pop songs about God, love, and religion’s grip on humanity. It’s the perfect album for 2 a.m., when the body’s winding down but the mind refuses to chill.
While they’re often compared to seminal U.K. trip-hoppers Massive Attack and Portishead, Haelos draw from a wealth of influences. After returning from SXSW—where they somehow survived the Austin sunshine—lead vocalist Arthur Delaney made Genius a list of 10 emotionally intense lyrics that inspire their brainy after-hours slow jams.
Check out Delaney’s handwritten lines and explanations, and listen to the playlist, below.
Thom Yorke, “Harrowdown Hill”
We think the same things at the same time
We just can’t do anything about it
Arthur Delaney: “Thom Yorke is a master of connection, and even in the highly politicized ‘Harrowdown Hill’ (written about the David Kelly conspiracy theory), he still manages to drop in a line like this to throw the song wide open. It’s how abruptly it reaches out and creates empathy in the listener that shows how clever a writer he is.”
Pink Floyd, “Time”
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
Arthur Delaney: “This is one of those perfect lyrics that makes me think deeply whilst raising a smile out of you too. It’s so dry and sardonic and draws into question a whole cultural etiquette without ever actually attacking it.”
Bjork, “All Is Full Of Love”
All is full of love
You just ain’t receiving
All is full of love
Your phone is off the hook
Arthur Delaney: “I love how simple that lyric ‘your phone is off the hook’ is in this context. We’ve all felt disconnected, but I had never thought of describing it like that. It’s painfully simple and dope as a result.”
Neil Young, “Cortez The Killer”
He came dancing across the water
With his galleons and guns
Looking for the new world
In that palace in the sun
Arthur Delaney: “This track always takes me someplace else. Neil Young’s simple poetry is transportive and hard-hitting, cloaking his comment on colonial settlement in South America in this crazy journeying imagery and arresting narrative.”
Spiritualized, “Broken Heart”
And I’m wasted all the time
I’ve gotta drink you right off of my mind
I’ve been told that this will heal given time
Lord, I have a broken heart
Arthur Delaney: “Definitely the best heartbreak song of all time. The lyrics perfectly describe the unavoidable and unwelcome melancholy of parting ways.”
Robert Johnson, “Hellhound On My Trail”
I gotta keep moving
Blues falling down like hail
And the day keeps on reminding me
There’s a hellhound on my trail
Arthur Delaney: “Robert Johnson was one of the first musicians I got obsessed with, and this song is an old favorite of mine. These lyrics are so haunted and evoke for me scenes of the delta in the ‘20s: whiskey-soaked religious paranoia and dust bowl hardship.”
Happy Mondays, “Kinky Afro”
Son, I’m 30
I only went with your mother ‘cause she’s dirty
And I don’t have a descent bone in me
What you get is just what you see, yeah
I see it so I take it freely
Arthur Delaney: “I love how aggressive and emotional Sean Ryder gets on his dad here. He properly brings him down, but you can hear his hurt in there too, and that vulnerability is what makes this track special.”
Mos Def, “Sunshine”
Like Hail Mary full of grace
Niggaz come in and shoot up the place
And make you pull up your face
The deck, I’m a pull out the ace
From the jungles of the Empire State
Where it ain’t no escape
Arthur Delaney: “These bars from Mos Def have got perfect flow. You don’t need music to make them groove.”
Bob Dylan, “Mr. Tambourine Man”
Take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Arthur Delaney: “The lyrics on this whole track speak for themselves. What I do admire is by using a tight rhythmic structure, Dylan allows his imagery to appear free and fluid as it hits your mind. He’s a clever dude.”
DJ Krush Feat. C.L. Smooth, “Only The Strong Survive”
Cops play for medals
Killers play for corners
In the middle are your sons and are your daughters
Who gives the orders?”
Arthur Delaney: “I like when lyrics tackle real-life hardship and social injustice. Music should be a platform for change and awareness, and C.L. Smooth plays the commentator perfectly here. Direct but never preaching, he is.”
