[BEYOND MORE] [INTRO — CONTINUING ARP FROM “EVERYTHING NEEDED”] [Whispered voices accumulating] More… A little more… Just one more— [Low male voice] Everything needed was already here. So why did enough begin to disappear? [VERSE 1 — RESTRAINED, SEDUCTIVE] First we wanted shelter. Then a window. Then a view. Then we needed every window looking down on someone too. First we wanted bread. Then a table. Then the head. Then we measured who was worthy by how many mouths they fed. We called the ladder progress. Never questioned where it leaned. Every height became another place we thought we had to reach. Nothing changed about the hunger when it finally got its feast. It only learned a larger word for everything it needs. [PRE-CHORUS — BASS BEGINS CLIMBING] Enough became a number. The number became a score. The score became a reason to keep reaching— [Whispered] More… [CHORUS — HEAVY, HYPNOTIC] What is beyond more? Another locked door? Another empty kingdom with a hunger at its core? What is beyond more? What are we fighting for? If everything we wanted leaves us wanting even more— What is beyond… Beyond… Beyond more? [POST-CHORUS — STUTTERING VOCAL ARP] Mo—mo—more. Mo—mo—more. Enough was here a moment before. Mo—mo—more. [VERSE 2 — BROKEN BEAT BECOMES AGGRESSIVE] We filled our hands with futures until nothing could be held. Bought mirrors made of numbers then became what numbers sell. Turned attention into currency. Turned suffering into views. Turned every human heartbeat into something we could use. We sold the rain in bottles. Put a fence around the seed. Built machines to manufacture everything except relief. Then blamed the empty feeling on the things we couldn’t own— While the people at our tables slowly learned to eat alone. [PRE-CHORUS — DISTORTION RISING] Desire became a promise. The promise became law. The law became a weapon when somebody said— [ALL SOUND CUTS] Enough. [CHORUS — EXPLOSIVE] WHAT IS BEYOND MORE? ANOTHER BLOODY WAR? Another generation paying what we spent before? What is beyond more? A crown without a head? A house with every room we wanted— And nobody in the bed? If everything we’re taking leaves us emptier than before— What are we becoming beyond more? [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK — ACCUMULATION ENGINE] [Each cycle adds another instrument.] [Coin strike becomes hi-hat.] [Shopping scanner becomes percussion.] [Clock gears become snare rolls.] [Stuttering arp accelerates without changing pitch.] [Voices overlap:] More time. More love. More proof. More blood. More land. More light. More life. More— [The mix overloads and violently clips shut.] [BRIDGE — SINGLE UPRIGHT PIANO] Suppose there is no final thing that makes the wanting cease. Suppose the mouth we keep on feeding was never built for peace. Suppose the emptiness inside us is not asking to be filled. Suppose it is a doorway asking what we’re willing to release. [Low heartbeat] Would we recognize enough if it returned without a crown? Would we hear a seed becoming if the clock stopped counting down? Would we know that we had everything if everything grew still? Or would we tear apart the garden just to prove we had the will? [FINAL CHORUS — FIRST HALF QUIET] What is beyond more? Maybe nothing waits beyond. Maybe “more” was just the distance between having and belonging. [Drums return] WHAT IS BEYOND MORE? WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR? If the hand that holds the whole world cannot open anymore— [Band drops out] It doesn’t own the world. The world owns it. [OUTRO — TRANSITION INTO “EMPTY HANDED”] [Objects begin dropping individually] A coin. A key. A glass. A crown. [Each impact removes an instrument.] [Final object drops] [Open palms brushing together] [Whispered] When everything was taken… The hand was finally empty.
