“Trip The Light Fantastic” by Greta Van Fleet

Concurrent with the release of Greta Van Fleet’s “Trip The Light Fantastic”, the full first names of the four members of Greta Van Fleet are as follows:

• Daniel (aka Danny)
• Jacob (Jake)
• Joshua (Josh)
• Samuel (Sam)

You may recognize all of those names as actually being sourced from the Old Testament. However, this is not a religious musical act. Or more specifically, they aren’t Christian nor apparently adhere to any type of belief system directly associated with the Bible. But yes, their personal beliefs do commonly come through in their lyrics. 

And all things considered, perhaps the easiest way to classify them in that regard is as being New Agers.

Or at least that is how we would usually define musicians in modern times who drop a song based on Hindu mysticism, as with this one. 

“Trip The Light Fantastic”

“Trip the light fantastic” is a phrase you’ve probably heard before. Traditionally it points to the idea of fancy, light-footed dancing. But Josh Kiszka and the boys aren’t utilizing it in such a manner. Rather the “light fantastic” would be more akin to achieving some type of elevated state – traveling the cosmos as a beam of light, so to speak. Or as the vocalist himself puts it, one “comet(ing) across the blistering hue”.

And under Greta Van Fleet’s estimation, such a state can be achieved via the practice of what is referred to as the Ah Sri Rmaa Jayam Ram mantra. 

So such statements featured throughout, i.e. the repeating of the word “ram”, are actually based on the vocalist practicing the related chants. And by extension we can also say he is encouraging the listener to do so also.

So the Song is Religious?

But again, actually calling this song religious would be stretch. It’s more like philosophical than anything else. And it is based on that type of philosophy, which apparently goes by different names, which states that all of nature are related, or that we are actually “the land, the sea and the sky”. 

And the reason the vocalist is putting such forth is not in any type of environmental sense. Instead it is to illustrate that we actually have the ability to harness these powers for our own spiritual edification.

Or something like that. For at the end of the day, it’s almost like lyrics of this nature aren’t even really meant to be understood in detail anyway. After all, how do you logically explain a statement like “we’re tied to all things as one”?

But one thing we do know is this. The singer idealizes being up in the heavens as opposed to down here on earth. And the reason he apparently does is because down below, our world is dealing with a number of disheartening issues. 

So he perceives the practice of this belief system and mantra as a way of presumably sending his spirit up there. Perhaps, considering that this is in fact new ageism, he is alluding to transcendental meditation or astral projection. And at the same time, he is also passing on this discovery to the listener.

Facts about “Trip The Light Fantastic”

As is convention all four of the members of Greta Van Fleet are credited as writers of the track at hand. And they are:

• Danny Wagner
• Jake Kiszka
• Josh Kiszka
• Sam Kiszka

Meanwhile the producer of the song is Greg Kurstin, who at the time is one of the top and most widely-utilized musicians in the industry.

This song is from Greta Van Fleet’s full-length second album. The band titled the album “The Battle at Garden’s Gate”. And this project is the product of two labels, Republic Records and a lesser-known entity, Lava Records.

Greta Van Fleet

Greta Van Fleet has been around for some time, since 2012. However, it appears they didn’t really get put on until they were signed by the aforementioned Lava Record in 2017. So 2018 is when their first full album, “Anthem of the Peaceful Army”, came out.

And the track we’re dealing with today, again being released as part of their second full-length, was dropped on 16 April 2021. So even if active for nearly a decade, at this point the band are relatively newbies.

However they have still managed to earn a name for themselves. For instance they were nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2019, winning in the Best Rock Album category with their 2017 project “From the Fires” (which was technically an EP). 

Also the aforementioned “Anthem of the Peaceful Army” did its job in terms of helping to put Greta Van Fleet on the map, as it ascended all the way to number 3 on the Billboard 200. 

And even prior to that their debut single, “Highway Tune“, topped Billboard’s Mainstream Rock list. In fact all four of their first singles – “Highway Tune” (2017), “Safari Song” (2017), “When the Curtain Falls” (2018) and “You’re the One” (2018) – managed to accomplish that feat.