In the Image Of
From Model Man
In the Image Of
feat. STAB
‘Cast’ names the father as the poison; ‘In the Image Of’ follows him all the way up to the ceiling, and the theology is the whole game: “The God I built looked just like him, my father’s face, my father’s frown,” a man discovering he inherited a deity along with a ledger and a grudge. After the loud detonation next door, Rose keeps it starved, close-miced fingerpicking in a minor key, a baritone that never rises above the volume of thinking out loud, and a spooked little carnival interlude that arrives right when the road runs out. The masterstroke is the late dialogue, Geneva flipping his self-loathing on its head with “I see something more: God, in the image of you,” and Rose refusing to answer: “I didn’t answer. Didn’t speak.” That withheld ending is braver than resolution, and it lands cleanly, the album’s quietest room before it starts climbing back toward light.
Lyrics
No home to drive to Just the lights up ahead
I drove until I lost the road no house left with my name on the door Some field still lit up like it glowed a carnival I'd never seen before
The God I built looked just like him — my father's face, my father's frown A ledger kept in perfect trim and me already marked far down No mercy written in the fine — just interest owed on every line
In the image of the hand I knew I built You strict. I built You cold Every rule I couldn't get through just the family creed, grown old
Past the ring toss, past the noise a single bulb, a folding chair Some new self help hustle and a woman waiting there
In the image of the hand I knew I built You strict. I built You cold Every rule I couldn't get through just the family creed, grown old
When you kloze your eyes and look at yourself, what do you see It's not pretty When I kloze mine, I see something more: God, in the image of you
I didn't answer. Didn't speak The lights went out row by row I wasn't sure what I should seek — or if I even wanted to know