Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy - Song Analysis

The singer-songwriter, Alison Sudol, is known professionally as A Fine Frenzy. A Fine Frenzy’s alternative music consists of mainly vocals and piano, along with some guitar and percussion. The Californian artist was discovered in 2006, and since then some of her music has been featured in television shows such as House and Defying Gravity, as well as in the soundtracks for the films Sleepwalking and Dan in Real Life. A Fine Frenzy’s strong use of imagery, mood, and other literary devices perfectly capture the emotion within her lyrics.

In the song “Almost Lover,” A Fine Frenzy uses numerous examples of poetic attributes within the lyrics. The point of view throughout the lyrics is in the first person perspective. Within the first verse of the song, Sudol uses imagery in the lyrics, “Your fingertips across my skin / the palm trees swaying in the wind / Images.” In a later verse, “We walked along a crowded street / you took my hand and danced with me / Images” is another example of her use of imagery. The repetition of the word “images” forces the image described in the previous statement into the listener’s mind. In another verse, Sudol uses imagery and slight local color while singing “I cannot go to the ocean / I cannot drive the streets at night / I cannot wake up in the morning / without you on my mind.” Within the song, Sudol also uses both alliteration and assonance to make the lyrics flow and sound pleasing; “You sang me Spanish lullabies / the sweetest sadness in your eyes” The S beginning sound is found in both lines as exemplary alliteration, and the similar sounding ending of lullabies and eyes is an example of assonance. Also, alliteration is found in the chorus with the words “long” and “luckless.” Towards the end of the song, the lyric “to walk right in and out of my life” is an example of objectification, making life seem as though it were concrete enough to actually physically walk in and out of although it really is not. The entire song has a strong mood of disappointment and being stuck after leaving some sort of relationship. With lyrics such as “Goodbye, my hopeless dream / I’m trying not to think about you / can’t you just let me be?” it displays her feelings of heartache. While listening to the song, it is easy for one to understand the mood of being stuck with memories and feelings through lines in the song such as “so you’re gone and I’m haunted.”

In conclusion, Almost Lover is a song that it filled with poetic devices. A Fine Frenzy uses alliteration and assonance to make the song flow and sound pleasing, along with her plentiful use of imagery. Through certain lines and phrases, she can clearly display the mood of the song. In Almost Lover, A Fine Frenzy is able to portray the emotion within the lyrics with the use of poetic devices such as mood, alliteration, assonance, imagery, point of view, and objectification.