Gravity's Union

Coheed and Cambria lead singer Claudio Sanchez wrote this song as part of the group's concept set The Afterman. The first album in the set, The Afterman: Ascension, was released in 2012, followed by The Afterman: Descension four months later. They are based on a series of comic books Sanchez wrote, and cover some heavy science fiction themes, including the quest for insights on the afterlife. Underlying many of these songs, however, are much more accessible themes inspired by life here on Earth. "Gravity's Union" draws on Sanchez' dislike of driving. He has hated being behind the wheel ever since getting a Chevy Baretta (dubbed "The Red Rocket") when he was younger.

Regarding how the band constructs their songs and the vocal track on this one, CC guitarist Travis Stever told us: "Sometimes I have a riff and it really excites him. He'll write a song to that riff and we'll work on it together. There are a couple of songs on this Descension record where that was the case: 'Iron Fist' and 'Dark Side Of Me' and 'Away We Go' are songs that I had riffs for and then we worked on it together as a band, and he wrote the lyrics and vocal melodies and arranged it. That's what happens with a majority of the songs that Claudio has. He'll have this skeleton of a song, and sometimes it's even fully arranged, like 'Gravity's Union' is an example. He had that song for a year before he had the demo version. Some of the vocals, the original vocals, were recorded at his house from demo mode, and it turned out to be one of my favorite vocal performances by him on the record."

The band worked on this song on-and-off for about two years, during which time drummer Chris Pennie left the group, replaced by Josh Eppard. "I had guitar parts that I had put to it and then I changed them by the time the rest of the band played on it," Travis Stever told us. "Because when Josh got in there, it was a completely different feel. We worked on that song with Chris Pennie two years prior, and it just changed. It changed for the better. That's nothing against Chris, it's just the way that that song turned out. It was very fit for what Josh does."