Tool
Lateralus
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Narration sentence highlighting is idle.
0:00–1:14 Assembling the cycle
- A quiet, repeating guitar figure opens alone; a bass line joins around 0:30, light percussion around 0:50.
- The job is assembly: one cell stated plainly and thickened layer by layer, with no section change until the riff is due.
1:14–2:34 Riff arrives, voice introduced
- Around 1:14 the main riff enters in its shifting meter, the full band locking in within a few bars; the verse voice arrives at 1:38 over it (Black then white are all I see in my infancy).
- At 2:05 the pre-chorus turn (As below so above and beyond) narrows the section toward its first payoff.
2:34–4:47 Chorus proved, cycle reloaded
- First chorus at 2:34 (Over thinking, over analyzing), closing on Feed my will to feel my moment at 2:50.
- The same verse–pre-chorus–chorus cycle then runs again — verse widened to There is so much more (3:14), pre-chorus at 3:25, chorus at 3:52 — and the second pass alters one word (feel this moment) while stretching its final line at 4:32 until the section gives way.
- Repetition is the job here: the frame is proved once, then re-run with a longer close.
4:47–5:40 Reset at low weight
- The density lets off at 4:47; by 4:51 the groove restarts at a fraction of its weight, and the voice returns softly at 5:24 (I embrace my desire to, then Feel the rhythm, to feel connected).
- The break empties the frame so the build can begin again from close to the intro's scale.
5:40–7:20 Long climb, then the guitar takes it
- Weight gathers from about 5:40; the bridge lyric climbs through it (To swing on the spiral, 6:12), then the guitar solo moves to the front, peaking near 6:20 and easing by roughly 6:45 into a looser pattern that runs on to about 7:20.
- This is the track's longest single formal job: one ascent and plateau without a section change.
7:20–9:24 Delayed return, refrain as ending
- A pullback near 7:20 sets the last verse over the settled groove (With my feet upon the ground, 7:30), building until the texture breaks and thins around 8:00; And following our will and wind (8:04) crosses the gap before the return lands.
- From 8:20, Spiral out, keep going repeats as the ending itself — the band gathering back around each pass, no new section added — until the final statement near 9:13 rings out into silence by 9:21.
The whole form runs build, prove, reset, climb, then lets a repeated refrain do the closing instead of a cadence.
Last updated Aug 25, 2026 · Written with GLM 5.2 · Galdr 0.7.0.dev0 · Inner Ear Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite

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Lateralus
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Music signal
Surface evidence
Harmony + melody
galdr concepts
Derived motion