“Stardust Chords” by Greta Van Fleet

“Stardust Chords” is even more metaphorical than the usual Greta Van Fleet fare. So we are compelled to go out on a limb, i.e. speculate, even in terms of ascertaining a premise for its meaning.

The central setting of the narrative contained therein is a location known as “the garden’s gate”, as mentioned in the first verse. This would apparently be the same “garden’s gate” referenced in “The Battle at Garden’s Gate”, which is the name of the overall project this track is featured on. 

And we will start off by postulating that “the garden” referred to is actually the Garden of Eden, even though there appears to be no hard evidence to support this claim. Rather, all lyrics considered, such is possibly what the singer is talking about.

Symbolically speaking, as you may already know, said mythical locality represents the origins of man. Or more specifically it marks a mythical point in history where, from a theological standpoint, man fell from grace, as in becoming more preoccupied with his own selfish ambitions as opposed to the greater good. 

Or as the Bible and other such texts commonly present the story, the Garden of Eden was the place where sin was first committed. And as punishment mankind was cast out of the Garden which was then sealed, by a “gate” if you will, so that no one could enter therein.

The Downfall of Man

And it would appear that such is what this song is actually premised on, ‘the Fall of Man’ and being cast out of the Garden of Eden. And in the aftermath of such transpiring, then what set in is a vain ambition amongst men to reclaim the Garden of Eden. 

That may be, in a roundabout way, what the phrase “The Battle at Garden’s Gate” actually means. Moreover in terms of this particular song, it is apparently such an idea upon which the first verse may be based. 

And similarly as far as the second verse goes, also as a result of being cast out of the Garden, war was introduced into the world, perhaps, considering what has been put forth above, in an attempt to reclaim it.

Chorus

Then in terms of attempting to understand the chorus, we are compelled to go out on yet another, albeit related limb. And the notion it appears to center on is the ubiquity of sin. 

In other words, in this world we live in, sinners and saints reside side-by-side or enjoy the same ‘drinking of wine’ and ‘breaking of bread’. The mention of those two foodstuffs in particular is undoubtedly to the Eucharist and by extension we can say the formal church. 

So what GVF may actually be referring to is a notion like the church itself being imbued with, as in basically run by sinners. And such pervasiveness of such immorality, whereas it has even penetrated the church, is yet another aftereffect of the Fall of Man.

We have pointed out in the past that Greta Van Fleet are not religious artists, at least not in the mainstream sense of the word. But on this particular track they have apparently relied on Biblical symbolism for inspiration to get a point or two across.

However, underneath it all, at the foundation is apparently a concept they deal with quite often, which is the world we’re living in being a troubled one.

“Stardust Chords”

Then as far as the titular “Stardust Chords” are concerned, perhaps that is a reference to the instrumental (i.e. guitar solo) of the song as opposed to alluding to its lyrics.  

That is to say that this track is considered to be one of the musical highlights on “The Battle at Garden’s Gate”. So perhaps the title is just a fancy way of acknowledging that fact.

Facts about “Stardust Chords” and Greta Van Fleet

The producer of this track is the musical dynamo known as Greg Kurstin, who also produced the entirety of “The Battle at Garden’s Gate”. However, in this particular case, unlike most other tracks found on the project, he is also credited as a co-writer. 

And the other writers are the four musicians which make up Greta Van Fleet. And for the record they are:

• Josh Kiszka (singer)
• Jacob Kiszka (guitarists)
• Sam Kiska (bassist)
• Danny Wagner (drummer)

Jake and Josh Kiszka are actually identical twins. Sam Kiszka is their little brother. And Danny Wagner is one of the homeys from their hometown of Frankenmuth, Michigan.

Danny Wagner joined the crew in 2013, a year after they officially formed. Prior to that the fourth member of the band was another drummer, Kyle Hauck.

Despite being around since 2012, Greta Van Fleet didn’t get around to dropping their maiden EP, “Black Smoke Rising”, until 2017. That project didn’t really make any noise. However, they dropped another EP that same year, “From the Fires”, that earned the band their first Grammy Award and an impressive one at that, the 2019 Best Rock Album trophy. 

Then their debut full-length, “Anthem of the Peaceful Army”, came out the following year. And chart-wise it was even better received than “From the Fires”. 

So “The Battle at Garden’s Gate”, which came out on 16 April 2021, is technically their second full-length album. And it was put out by Republic, the same label that handled all of the aforementioned projects, alongside Lava Records.

Was “Stardust Chords” released as a single from its album (“The Battle at Garden’s Gate”)?

“Stardust Chords” wasn’t released as a single. In all, only 4 singles were officially released from the project. They are:

• “Broken Bells”
• “Heat Above”
• “Age of Machine”
• “My Way, Soon“