Most everyone has felt out of place at one point or another in their life. Did you try to blend in? Or did you transform into a wall-flower? In this edition of the Lyric Shrink, we’re going to explore the concept of personas. The masks we sometimes put on to help us fit in. Come with me on a journey of vampiric allusions and chameleon-like changes while listening to “Artificial Nocturne” by Metric.
First, let’s define a commonly used psychological term, persona. The term comes from the work of Carl Jung and refers to the various social affectations we display based on who we are around or what role we are fulfilling. A simple example is how our language, tone of voice, and behaviors change when we’re football fans vs. when we are working. Personas while often viewed as masking the true self also represent an adaptation to the situation and surroundings. The danger comes, Carl Jung warns, when we can’t shift out of our personas. When we are seemingly always on.
We know some of these people. There’s a glass barrier between you and them. Something that tells you this person isn’t being authentic. I believe the lyrics penned by James Shaw and Emily Haines deal with this issue.
I’m just as fucked up as they say
I can’t fake the daytime
Found an entrance to escape into the dark
Got false lights for the sun
It’s an artificial nocturne
It’s an outsider’s escape for a broken heart
These words indicate a deep desire to be authentic. But society wants something else from the band. There’s a need to escape this pressure. So they put on the persona of a night-time creature. Someone at home in bars and theatres with black lights and smoke machines. It makes the crowd happy. But what happens when you can’t distinguish yourself from the persona? It’s fucked up and when you’re away from the crowd people can tell. The people you hang out with in the back.
We hide out in the back
Like shadows in a stranger’s dream
Hiding out in the back together
Hiding out in the back forever
Emily writes of being in this backstage world as if it is ephemeral.
Shadows inside a dream, how much more detached from reality can something be? Carl Jung used the term shadow to describe the unconscious aspects of our personalities. Metric is describing a world where the bandmates hang out as sort of unconscious beings. The need to put aside the nocturne persona is so strong they all detach from reality. I’m certain we’ve all felt like that after a long day of work putting on a smile while working with and for others. Can I just go unconscious for a half hour before I talk to anyone?
But after that escape into the unconscious, we’re faced with the challenge of reintegration into reality. The ability to shift between the persona and your authentic self is important. There are times when the protection of the persona is no protection at all. It’s just a barrier to us getting what we really need. We need those closest to us to know what we’re really going through. We have a need that isn’t being met. Very few are going to be able to see those needs through the persona.
Luckily if we realize that the persona is our own creation and that ultimately we have control over it, we can shed it when needed. We can’t just live inside our unconscious either.
This needed ability to get back in touch with reality is echoed when Metric takes us to verse 2.
I make all that I believe
In dreams so real
Babe, I have to take the call
Fate don’t fail me now
I make all that I believe
I set myself free
So take all the time you need
And let yourself be
If it’s all make-believe then I’m in control. I don’t have to keep hiding. I’m going to answer that wake-up call and get moving. When I make this realization I’ve been set free. I can choose when to be on and when I’m not.
It just takes listening to the call of reality rather than numbing out and escaping. But there’s acknowledgment it’s not always easy for everyone. Sometimes we need to take time for ourselves and be in the now. Take a little time to just notice your own existence and where you fit into this world. That sentiment is similar to mindfulness practices. Simply noticing your breath, or sounds around you, or deeply feel what you’re experiencing in the moment. It puts you deeply in touch with the reality of the present reality. I think it’s a great antidote to feeling like you’ve been on for too long. Here’s one of my favorite mindfulness guides.
Artificial Nocturne has these dreamlike synth pads and Emily’s voice coos and calls drawing us deeper into the dream. But the lyrics cut through and try to send a message that we control the dream. I think this is an empowering message. We can feel weary, fake, or even a deep desire to get away. If it’s because we’ve been wearing the mask for too long, it’s within our ability to take it off. I hope that if you have to put on a persona to cope with work or difficult people that you find respite in a good book, music, or maybe a little mindfulness practice. Metric tells us to find our escape but always remember to come back to the real world and your authentic self.