"I don't understand these lyrics. They must be pretentious gibberish."
"I have no idea what time signature they think they're playing in, obviously these guys just don't know what they're doing."
Ohh, okay, I see. You were juxtaposing. I wasn't sure how talking about lyrics went to talking about the music itself. But okay, I understand now.
The problem I have with lyrics like Lifting Shadows isn't that they're unclear, or too poetic, or pretentious, or whatever. It's that they're a little too vague. Yes, they easily allow a person to make the song about whatever it means to them personally, but I just feel like it's a little vague in that respect. It's the same thing with "The Answer Lies Within". I love the song, but the lyrics almost feel like that standard Disney Princess song, that's in every one of their movies, where the princess sings about how she wants to break away from it all, she want's more, she wants it. But what the hell is she talking about exactly?
Now, I'm not saying this is the case, but the lyrics end up being so vague, that it feels like even the writer doesn't know what the song is about. It's like all those 80's songs that say, "I will steak my claim! I will go get it!" But there's no actual personal meaning behind it at all, it just feels like they're writing vague lyrics just for the sake of saying, "Well, this way the fans will make it about something personal to them." Which is okay, but at least SOME clarity usually works best, which is why I actually prefer the lyrics to songs like These Walls and Beneath The Surface, where even though there is some clarity to them, and they clearly have a particular message in mind, but they still allow for infinite interpretations.
And sure, it's possible that I'm not fully understanding the lyrics to LSOAD, but I actually prefer it when I don't understand them BECAUSE they're specific. Like, "Once again we dance in the crowd at times a step away.." that whole section, I don't know what the hell it's about! But I love it, because it... Ahem... Evokes such interesting images with its words...