Le Pic

Lyrics

[Intro]
The needle finds the groove.
Or the laser finds the pit.
It doesn't matter.
The waiting is the same.
The room is dark enough to see the dust dance.
Headphones on.
A quiet click.
And we begin.

[Verse 1]
The first cello line.
A slow question.
My skin knows the answer before my mind does.
Jaak Panksepp called it the Seeking System.
This leaning forward in the soul.
A hunger for a note that hasn't been played yet.
My heart rate climbs the scale with the strings.
One beat per measure.

[Chorus]
And here it comes.
The slow press of the pedal.
The dampers lift.
And a current runs from my scalp down my spine.
Piloerection. That's the word for it.
A thousand tiny muscles pulling tight.
Hello, Nucleus Accumbens.
The dopamine starts to bloom.

[Verse 2]
Valorie Salimpoor saw this in a scanner, January 2011.
The brain lighting up in anticipation.
A ghost of pleasure for the pleasure to come.
The brass joins in now, a low burnished gold.
The piano chords are building a staircase.
Robert Zatorre heard it too.
The same reward as food, as a lover's touch.
But made of nothing. Just air. Just vibration.

[Chorus]
And oh, here it comes.
The slow press of the pedal.
The dampers lift.
And a current runs from my scalp down my spine.
Piloerection. A beautiful, ugly word.
A thousand tiny muscles pulling tight.
Hello, my striatum.
The dopamine begins to flood.

[Bridge]
Fortissimo.
The pressure wave hits my chest.
My pupils are wide in the dark.
The world is just this.
This one, perfect, overwhelming wave.
This is the peak.
The skin orgasm.
The moment the map and the territory become one.
A shiver that isn't from the cold.

[Outro]
And then... silence.
The echo of the flood.
A warmth spreading through my limbs.
The dust settles.
The headphones feel heavy now.
Just air.
Just a signal in the dark.
Just chemistry.
Thank you.