Photo: Jawn Rocha
May 21st, 2021, pop-punk band Waterparks released their fourth album, Greatest Hits. And it is just that - a collection of astonishing, stunning tracks; one of my personal favourites being track number sixteen, the second to last song, Ice Bath. Not only is it an extremely powerful way to lead into the outro, See You In The Future, it had such a hold on me, that I had to find out for myself why it was called "Ice Bath".
If the heavy bass and extreme bass drop wasn't enough to display the eccentric title, I decided to put myself through the physical of hell by listening to this song while in a zero degrees Celsius bathtub, in the midst of the British heatwave, and I only have one word: exhilarating.
The song itself starts with a subtle build up featuring the recurring lines from the title track, Greatest Hits; "I had the strangest dream of all". I felt as though this was such a needed memorable intro for this song and the album. The repeat of this line indicates the dream-like trance this album feels like, describing the linking of the songs as well as the wildness and variety in the songs and lyrics.
As Ice Bath truly begins at past the one-minute mark, I felt the reason behind this song's name. The lyrics are as crushingly substantial as the backing, featuring lines such as "I pray for more shit, like that would help me to feel more free" and "So cut the check or cut my neck with a brand new set of car keys". As I listened to these lyrics in an ice bath of my own, it became clear that the song is associating with a feeling of drowning within a life that cannot be balanced (discovered through the first few lyrics: "Wake up, good morning, my love's distorted but what's important my shirt's imported"), which gives the narrator (in this case, songwriter Awsten Knight) a case of hypothermia - the onerousness of the lyrics and backing comes from the feeling of drowning and a horrible case of freezing which engulfs Knight.
In my case, I was shivering without noticing and my own limbs going numb. When the outro of the song kicks in, too, the recherché of the song hit me like a brick. "All I need is more time right now" (which is repeated four times over, slightly different each time) symbolises the need to grasp more time and escape the numbness and compressions of the dense waters; more time to balance out the life that Knight so dearly wants, but can never have.
The heaviness of the song Ice Bath comes from every aspect; the lyrics, the instrumental, and the raw feel it gives to the listener. The title clearly represents the feeling of drowning and freezing in a dark, resenting ocean swallowing up Knight in a life he cannot balance without sacrifice. The crescendo which begins the song also symbolises this - the frost from the water finally devoured Knight, before his final resolve in the outro; he strongly desires saving from this icy "hell". His saviour being time, in this case, from the deep water. But he cannot be saved without sacrifice. Ice Bath almost plays like Greatest Hits's Snow Globe's harder predecessor, which features a softer melody, yet still engulfs the listener with its chilly undertones and sensitive feeling, also conveyed through the title.
The raw, painful, yet "gore"-like that Ice Bath exhibited to me, I have never felt in a song before. It was such a privilege listening to this for the first time, and then later on, when I forced myself to listen to it in the same conditions it portrayed to me. Ice Bath will forever be in a league of its own in every aspect of its creation. It had no other place than to be on Waterparks's (true to its name) fourth album, Greatest Hits.
Listen to Waterparks' album Greatest Hits on Spotify and Apple Music. Follow the band on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Written by Ciara O'Dea
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