Angels of the Silences

"Angels of the Silences" is a song by American alternative rock band Counting Crows. It is the lead single and second track from their second album, Recovering the Satellites (1996). The song peaked at number three on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, making it the highest-placing single from the album.

Background
Adam Duritz said about that song (from Storytellers): "I write quite a few songs where the sort of issue is faith–having faith, keeping faith. And this song in particular is about the difficulty in having faith in things, and finding things to have faith in, in yourself, in God, in like he said, a woman. Faith is a weird thing, it in a sense it is all about waiting. It's not actually about getting anything, you know, faith is about the wait, because once you get something there is no need anymore. So a lot about faith is just the willingness to sort of throw yourself on a fence and hang there for a while. That's a very difficult and bitter thing, you know. In this song, I keep saying the main character, *I*, I said, 'All my sins, I would pay for them if I could come back to you.' It's not just about finding things to believe in, it's about wanting to be able to believe in anything too. And it's about all the voices that get inside your head and whisper for you to do it or not to do it as well. And it's called 'Angels of the Silences.'"

Composition
Similar to the content of the rest of Recovering the Satellites, the song has a heavier sound than that of Counting Crows' debut, August and Everything After, incorporating distorted guitar riffs, blearier production, and higher emphasis on percussion to create a driving and dirty instrumental. The song is in the key of A-flat Minor, with a chord structure of i-(b)II-VI-III and a tempo of 160 BPM.

Personnel

 * David Bryson – guitar
 * Adam Duritz – lead vocals
 * Charlie Gillingham – Hammond B-3, background vocals
 * Matt Malley – electric bass
 * Ben Mize – drums
 * Dan Vickrey – guitar