I find Luke Beling’s writing on “A Stone in the Mouth of the Ocean” so poignantly poetic. Considering the kind of individual I am, constantly unsure, persistently anxious, trying to react and do everything all at the same time, the point he makes on this track hits very close to home. The inevitability and unexpectedness of life hits us not just once in a big way, but constantly, over and over again. If we choose to let it affect us and react to each of those instances, we’re never going to have a moment of calm. That final section, where he repeats and almost cries out the titular line is so deeply cathartic, just serving as some sort of declaration to himself and to any listener that you can be that rock, that rock that refuses to budge or react in the wake of the most unruly and crashing of waves hitting you again and again.
The arrangement is a perfect complement to this composition, building slowly and subtly to a crashing catharsis in that final section as you leave with renewed perspective on where you are.