Society of Beggars’ third album Levitator is a sonically intense and deeply personal record
Following a devastating personal loss, the Melbourne-based quartet channeled their emotions into an album that’s both equal parts cathartic and exhilarating.
From raw riffs of “Jim” to the psychedelic soundscapes of “Hummingbirds”, Levitator resists easy categorisation.
The album’s introspective songwriting and sonic experimentation draw parallels with artists like Nick Cave and My Bloody Valentine.
Join us as we take a dive into the world of Society of Beggars and explore the making of Levitator.
LEVITATOR
Jim: This was one of the first tracks we demoed right after Yianni’s and my father passed away suddenly, so it was still very raw and angry.
We basically got together at our drummer Dibi’s house, with small amps and an electronic drum kit, no pedals, no mics, and just played and wrote as we tried to figure out how to get back to music, to what we loved.
This was one of the first things we came up with, and I think that’s reflected in its directness and darkness.
To me, in a way, it’s very similar to “I Love Rock and Roll” by Joan Jett, if you put that song through an occult séance with a bunch of practicing witches who have a penchant for fuzz pedals.
WELL OF WISHES
Jim: This is a love song to the art of rock and roll and a mission statement about everything we’ve been through as a band.
It’s a song to blow open the doors and take names for all the people who’ve stood in the way of what we’re doing.
It’s about the power of art, self-belief, and celebrating those who’ve stood by your side. All set to a guitar riff that’s come to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And it’s all out of bubblegum.
ALL THE HOUSES HAVE THEIR LIGHTS ON
Yianni: As a teenager in our family backyard in Adelaide, I would often be found staring blankly into the vast, open night sky full of stars, having a smoke at 2am with our cat.
It was a mix of the cosmic and the intimate, a blend of main character syndrome and insignificance.
The references to “a lunar eclipse” were my way of symbolising a moment of intense change, but ultimately for the better.
The line “The houses have their lights on” is, for me at least, a comforting and grounding image amidst the chaos of this ‘event’.
MOOD RINGS
Yianni: I visualise songs like scenes in a movie, and this one is the scene where the goth “loser” art kids show up at the party.
Grief and sudden loss can make you feel damaged, like people are looking at you with that “well, that’s bad luck” kind of vibe. Mood Rings is a song that says, “I’m here, and I’m fucked up from what’s happened to me, but I’m going to use it to be stronger.”
Lyrically, I think it’s about how our moods shift, longing to move past bad memories and find some peace, but also accepting the emotional scars that come with it.
The line “we met by design” is a reminder that, despite all the chaos, certain connections feel destined, like they were always meant to happen.
UNDER STRANGE, STRANGE SKIES
Jim: It’s quite scary to write something that stays in the same key for the entire song and builds purely organically, layering on top and just building a vibe.
It was something very different for us, but it suited the song and acts as a perfect middle point of the album.
To me, the song is about finding beauty in the natural world after going through absolute darkness, like the first rays of light poking through.
It’s about knowing that sometimes escaping what you’re going through and finding some kind of peace, even for a small moment, can make all the difference.
DANCE THE EVIL
Jim: This is us doing our whole LoudQuietLoud Pixies/Nirvana thing. We grew up in the ’90s, and those bands, along with many others, left a huge, indelible mark on us.
The song is about occupying space in someone’s mind, whether romantically or otherwise, and communicating without words.
It’s about knowing that someone has your back, through thick and thin. Any more Grunge, and this song would be wearing plaid shirts, sucking on a fluoro dummy, and raiding your fridge for Jolt Cola.
LICK
Yianni: Lick, for me, is about confronting your own lies and the disillusionment, and the reckoning, that comes with it.
It’s like, “I know what I’ve done. I know I’m a fucking mess.” “How about you?” Are you going to live your life without confronting anything deep?
Not trying to look inside yourself, or into the people you love? I’m saying it in a way that’s less “oh, I’m so enlightened” and more “well, I guess I’ll just accept that I’m a mess, and you won’t, so let’s move on.” All set to a lullaby.
GOD MODE
Yianni: A psychotic episode set to 125 beats per minute, constantly shifting between lucidity and chaos. A cosmic breakdown with a laugh track.
SPACE JUNK COLLECTOR
Yianni: A reviewer recently called this song “emo-tinged,” which, honestly, I’m all for.
[Starts singing]
“When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city,
To see a marching band.
He said, “Son, when you grow up,
Would you be the saviour of the broken,
The beaten, and the damned?”
HUMMINGBIRDS
Yianni: The lifestyle of being in a band is a bit like being in a cult or a weird family, you meet so many people, some stay for the whole ride, some don’t.
Some still wish you well, some don’t. The imagery of “we let this wash all away” is meant to convey that while we can look back with nostalgia at lost connections from the past, we have to keep moving forward.
The final outro of the song is something really wild to me: Zoë brought in her recently acquired vintage synth, and we just went bananas with it, building it layer by layer.
Dibi’s drumming is so, so cool, possibly my favourite thing he’s ever done. It just effortlessly tells our story, carrying the emotional release we’re trying to express in the song and throughout Levitator as a whole.
They turn the song into a full-blown, psychedelic, colourful experience, where in the end, we seek redemption and transformation, like the hummingbird, fragile, yet capable of transcending the weight of its own brokenness.
Check out our review of Levitator here.
