Music Notes

Thief, by ID

My next track—don't worry, there's only a few left!—is a bonus off the tail end of the 2015 Imagine Dragons album Smoke + Mirrors.

Being one of a handful of extra songs, it did not have its own painting from artist Tim Cantor.

Sound:
Thief has a "larger than life" style, bombastic and exaggerated, with somewhat more of a Night Visions feel than a S+M feel to it. The drums are enormous, the guitars are suspenseful… some of the most "adventuresome," built-up tracks on S+M are the bonuses. At least two of them were used as movie soundtracks.

The bridge gives a pause, synesthetically twinkling into a slow buildup and return to the chorus.

Lead singer Dan Reynolds' voice seems especially high and thin, almost weak, on Thief, perhaps overwhelmed by the wall-of-sound production.

Theme:
Thief has some of my favorite lyrics of all of ID: poetic, thoughtful, and super simple to memorize and repeat. Dan mourns the loss of what he sees as his youthful boldness, pointing out his observation of the world's descent into a cynical refusal to face the truth.

Significance:
I've sung the two verses of Thief to myself far more often than I played the song over the years. In fact, I gave the words my own melody, turning Dan's slow, moody intonation into a quicker, more playful sort of jingle.

Oddly enough, I don't seem to have a lot to say about this song even though I love singing it. That's probably a good thing

Words: 262.