Listening to To Be Kind, especially the first disc since that's the one I'm most familiar with, I've started to feel like the album is about some kind of spiritual enlightenment or spiritual path.
"Screen Shot" is an incredibly beautiful song in terms of its meaning. It invites you to appreciate the present moment. Both the music and the lyrics show how a simple idea can grow into something enormous. It reminds me a lot of the principles of certain spiritual traditions, especially the idea of the Observer.
I don't have much to say about "Just a Little Boy" or "A Little God in My Hands" because I still don't fully understand what they're trying to express. However, "A Little God in My Hands" gives me the feeling of an existential crisis, like someone questioning what the universe is and suddenly becoming aware of some kind of universal mind.
I think "Bring the Sun" expresses what I'm trying to say better than any other song on the album. That opening riff is so crushing, yet it feels like it's dragging itself forward. Michael's chants sound like a ritual demanding that the sun be brought back, and the different noise sections—especially the horse-like sounds—make it feel as if the journey toward revelation is happening through the music itself rather than through the lyrics. Those huge bursts of sound and the sheer physical intensity almost make your legs hurt.
Then "Some Things We Do" feels like a final reflection on everything that began with "Screen Shot," reflecting on the things we do that keep us attached to the flesh and pull us away from the divine.
I don't think the album is directly about these ideas, and I don't think the lyrics explicitly tell this story either. To me, this story is told mainly through the music itself.
I also don't know if I'm the only one who feels this way, but To Be Kind constantly evokes images of nature for me. It almost feels like an album created by Mother Earth herself.
I'd love to hear what story this album tells to you.
