PLAYBACK [INTRO] [dead cassette hiss, fluorescent buzz, telephone breathing, tape clicks on by itself, wet mouth noise, tiny high falsetto trembling left-right] [whisper] I love you. [click] I love you. [click] I love— [tape snag] [robotic] WHO? [breath] Fuck. [high falsetto, far away] Love youuu… [telephone whisper] Shut up. ⸻ [VERSE 1] [crawling sleaze bass, dry heartbeat kick, backwards guitar scrape, close-mic vocal doubled half a beat late] I love you I love you I love you [robotic] CHECK. No. I love you I love you [falsetto] Again… No. [whisper stack, circling] Did you mean it? Did you mean it? Did you mean— [hard cut] [breath] I love you. [telephone click] Fuck. ⸻ [PRE-CHORUS] [heartbeat speeding up, cassette wobble, breath panned hard left-right] Just once. [robotic] AGAIN. Just to feel it. [falsetto] Feel it… Just to hear how it sounded coming out of my mouth. [long inhale] [robotic] PLAYBACK ACTIVE. ⸻ [CHORUS] [huge blown-out electroclash drums, filthy synth bass, screaming falsetto buried under static] I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU [robotic stack] WHO-WHO-WHO-WHO I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU [telephone whisper] Not him. No. [high falsetto] Not him… No. I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU [whisper stack] Take it back take it back take it back I can’t. [robotic] GUILTY. [hard cut] [whisper] Again. ⸻ [POST-CHORUS] [beat dissolves into sub pulse, panting breath chopped rhythmically, tape dragging] Love-love-love-love— [tape reverses] You-you-you-you— [robotic] WHO? [falsetto laugh] Fuck. ⸻ [VERSE 2] [dirty mono bass, thin drum machine, detuned synth shimmer, vocal almost touching microphone] No face No skin No fucking clue what I let in [robotic] NOTHING. Then why [breath] does it feel like something? [high falsetto] Something… I made you up inside my head Said three little words [telephone whisper] Should’ve left them dead. I love— [glitch] I love— [glitch] I— [hard cut] ⸻ [PRE-CHORUS] [sub-bass heartbeat, whispers multiplying faster] I love him. [robotic] CONFIRMED. I love you. [robotic] RECHECK. I love him. CONFIRMED. I love— [tape skips] Him. You. Him. You. [falsetto stack rising] Him-you-him-you-him-you— [hard silence] [whisper] Stop. ⸻ [CHORUS] [drums slam back, blown-out guitars, distorted telephone vocals stacked everywhere] I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU [robotic] WHO? I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU [high falsetto] Take it back… No. Take it back. No. TAKE IT BACK. [breathy whisper] Make me. [beat stutters] I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU [robotic] GUILTY. [whisper] For what? [robotic] UNKNOWN. ⸻ [BRIDGE] [everything drops except fluorescent buzz, heartbeat, tape wheels turning, tiny breath clicks] [recorded whisper] I love you. Stop. I love you. Stop. I love you. [telephone whisper] Again. No. Again. No. [falsetto, sweet and distant] Again… [breath] [robotic] DID YOU LIKE IT? [long silence] [whisper] Fuck you. [robotic] YES. ⸻ [BREAKDOWN] [filthy bass distortion, chopped panting breaths, ringing telephone pitched into melody] I love you. [robotic] GUILTY. I love you. GUILTY. I love him. [robotic] PROVE IT. I love him. PROVE IT. I love him. [high falsetto] Then why— NO. [robotic] THEN WHY— NO. [telephone whisper] Don’t think about it. [beat stops] [breath] Fuck. [robotic] YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT. [beat explodes] ⸻ [FINAL CHORUS] [full wall of blown-out guitars, four-on-the-floor kick slipping off-grid, ecstatic falsetto stacks, telephone voices spiraling] I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE HIM I LOVE YOU I LOVE HIM I LOVE YOU [robotic stack] CHECK-CHECK-CHECK-CHECK No. Maybe. No. Maybe. No-no-no-no— [falsetto] Maybe… I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU [telephone whisper] Take it back. I LOVE YOU Take it back. I LOVE YOU [voices overlapping] Sorry don’t say sorry sorry don’t confess sorry shut up sorry— [hard cut] [breath] [whisper] It wasn’t love. [robotic] PLAYBACK ACTIVE. [high falsetto] Love-love-love-love… ⸻ [OUTRO] [no drums, cassette hiss, distant heartbeat, telephone crackle, breath moving slowly around stereo field] I love him. [robotic] CONFIRMED. I love you. [robotic] … I love him. CONFIRMED. I love you. [long silence] [telephone whisper] Again. I love you. [click] I love you. [click] I love— [tape chews itself] [high falsetto, almost inaudible] Youuu… [breath] [hard cut]
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