The Great Mystery of Hawaii: Part II

A video essay discussing the mysterious album released by
ミラクルミュージカル (Miracle Musical). Link to sources down below.

Donations:

Sources:

This video discusses schizophrenia in terms of how it relates to the story of the album. It is important to know that in reality, schizophrenia is an often socially misunderstood case. If you would like more info on this, please see my works cited page. Thank you!

[dallinbates]

A couple things I believe are also worth mentioning. "Dream Sweet in Sea Major" is precisely 7 minutes long. This is supposedly the time it takes for you to completely cease function after being officially "dead." Additionally, the date which this was released on was 12/12/12, which in addition to being a very unique date, was supposedly the end of world, as that's when the Mayan calendar ended.

[KCNeth]

My interpretation of the album (really simplified):

The dude is a sailor, he travels to Hawaii, where he meets his love. They fall in love and go on a date to the forest. They get lost, the girl gets murdered and it is believed our dude is responsible. Knowing he cant defend himself he pleads for insanity to get a lighter sentence but is instead sent to electroshock therapy which makes him actually insane. Hearing the voice of his lover he escapes, and finally when sailing he mistakes the siren and a lighthouse for his love and crashes, thus dying by drowning.

[jaxsonhedberg]

I always thought that it was about a sailor who was framed for murder after finding his lover dead in the woods, falsley pleading insanity as his brain is destroyed by intrusive shock therapy, he then eventually and torturously dies, meeting up with his true lover in the afterlife.

Edit:
Yay I started a discussion!
Edit 2 electric boogaloo: read my lengthy reply because I came up with a new theory that may or may not be good but I like it.

[dadsleftfoot]

With this protagonist being the murderer theory, in Dream Sweet in Sea Major, I’ve always interpreted the line “She knows you heard her, staging music murder” could also be heard as “She knows you HURT her”

[Sillysusuuuu]

This whole album should be a real musical. A fantasy musical

[squidkidsyoutube]

I always thought the listener was a character themselves, with the line "why did we deserve to be revived?" implying that each listen is us restarting a time loop, and the album has an undercurrent of the characters accepting the beauty of their own musical.

[garettskott]

Here's my interpretation of the album in summary:
The story is about a man called Simon and his lover. They're perfect for each other, but the woman dies and Simon is sad about it.

Introduction to the Snow:
I'm not too sure about this one. Since the last song starts the same way as this one, Simon might already be dead and looking back at his life (which means the story would be cyclic) OR this is just an introduction to our main character and his state of mind, all alone, looking for someone to love. Since there's snow, we are not in Hawaii yet.

Isle Unto Thyself:
This is the first time we hear a female singer. Simon meets someone who enlights his world, a "shining blinding star". He passionately falls in love with her as if it was magic, and this big change makes him question all that he knew.

Black Rainbows:
Simon and the woman go to Hawaii and she loves Simon back.

White Ball:
The lovers are incredibly happy together, so much so that it feels unreal. Little do they know, their bliss will be cut short.

Murders:
The narrator says he found a boy and a girl (the lovers) in the woods and he ends up killing them because he's afraid they'll kill him ("murder of murderers"). He finds out it was all for nothing because, as he says at the end, HE was the boy, the narrator was Simon himself who belived to be someone else due to a mental disorder.

Space Station Level 7:
Simon tries to console himself thinking about Heaven, but it doesn't erase the guilt and pain.

The Mind Electric:
Simon is processed for his crime and judged insane, so the doctors use elecroshock therapy to fix his disorder. It's painful, but it ends up working.

Labyrinth:
Simon is now sane, but feels lost without his lover and the memory taunts him as an unreacheble objective.

Time Machine:
Simon finds temporary relief in reliving his old memories.

Stranded Lullaby:
Simon sails off into the ocean to find some peace, but gets lost. It's not clear how much time has passed since the last song.

Dream in Sweet Sea Major:
Simon can't go back on land and is going to die lost in the sea. In his final hours, he finally accepts everything that's happened to him. As death comes closer, the memory of the lover becomes more present and she sings again. The story ends as a wave hits Simon's ship, abruptly ending the song.

[BrokenFingerParadise]

I am dumb, when I saw this video appear on my recommended I started looking part 1 of the video to watch first.

Anyway very interesting, great job.

[outpesticide]

I've always taken Hawaii Part II to be a deeply personal album for Joe. The narrative of the songs when isolated is interesting enough on its own, but Joe Hawley's personal life has a very large effect on how this should be perceived.

Schizophrenia *is* the villain of Hawaii Part II, because Joe might suffer from it himself.

Many speculate this to be why Tally Hall went on its indefinite hiatus to begin with, and if you're at all familiar with Joe's many controversies over the years, they've all been tracked back to his poor mental health. But the conceptualization of Hawaii came when he was a kid; he went with his family to Hawaii in (I think) 1997, and it inspired him to take up music to create an album about his time there. It was while living at an uncle's farm in exchange for work after end of Tally Hall that he finally had the time to put his dream album together, but so much had happened to Joe between 1997 and 2011 that the end product is Hawaii Part II: An album that has very little to do with the innocent trip to Hawaii he took.

In my mind, Hawaii Part II is specifically about Joe's breakup with his college girlfriend, something he has admitted to still be effected by as recently as 2019. The most striking piece of evidence towards this in my mind is Stranded Lullaby, which is a modified version of "Our Lullabye;" a song Joe wrote for his ex when she moved away to attend a different school.

Joe's a deeply troubled person. He never got over losing his first real love, he still misses Tally Hall, and he suffers greatly from an undiagonised mental disorder. Hawaii Part II is a cry for help.

[rainbxwaqua]

THAT JUMPSCARE ON HIDDEN IN THE SAND SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME HELP

[Jane_]

For me, my favorite song and introduction to the album is Mind Electric, which I have always assumed was about a schizophrenic person (due to the background voices) being sentenced to electroshock therapy (given the line “nuns commence incanting as the lightning strikes my temples thus”)

[goonishereva]

When I heard The Mind Electric for the first time, I was like “Why does this make my brain feel so good. Why do I want to listen to this over and over again?” And it finally clicked that this was technically a Tally Hall spin-off album, a band of whom my favorite songs were Ruler of Everything, Spring and a Storm, Hidden In The Sand, and The Bidding

Having watched this video, holy shit is this album so strange, off putting, horrifying, haunting, and beautiful all At once. The madness of one’s own mind is such a terrifying thought. Let alone what it can make you do if you descend too far down into it.

The Mind Electric reminds me of certain bits of Everywhere at the End of Time (another album that fills me with existential horror) especially because of all the distortions and random audio queues. Both convey the feeling of your mind slipping away from you in very visceral ways and it’s terrifying. Fantastic video breaking it all down!

Edit: I completed forgot to mention the bits of semi related footage that you’d insert into certain parts of the video. Like the Stephen Hawking audio clips and such. It really stayed true to the sporadicalness of the album imo!

[millop]

Oh my god wait. WAAAIT. What if by Part II the album is trying to say "part two, " as in parting two people (lovers) from each other because of whatever incidents separate them whether that be from death or murder or whatever happens in their story???!!!? That would explain why there is no "Part One" in the first place. :O

[fedoraborealis]

the editing in this video is gorgeous! A few jumpscares though hehe.

I'd love to mention some extra contextual details, for those interested:

1. songs like 'stranded lullaby', 'mind electric' and 'time machine' existed wayy before this album, as they were songs Hawley wrote during his time in Tally Hall. Not all were written for Tally Hall though.

2. mind electric existed previously as 'inside the mind of Simon' which you can find clips of it online! It was performed by another band Hawley was in called Cojum Dip.

3. stranded lullaby was initially written for Hawley's girlfriend years ago, though they're relationship fell apart, resulting in possible legal involvement, though I don't remember the details. It was since redone and renamed for this album.

4. Time Machine was worked on by tally hall but never eventuated into their albums, perhaps similarly to 'i'm gonna win' which Rob Cantor kept and put onto his album 'not a trampoline'.

5. I highly recommend listening to the demos of Mind Electric. Demo 4 is a personal favourite!

For me, this adds more interesting elements to how I view this beautiful album : -)
Lmk if I got anything wrong!

[IrisCurrie]

Something that may be of note is that while the moon keeps being described as a sort of ideal afterlife. However, if you look closely at the album art, the moon in it is actually the lantern of an anglerfish. Perhaps representing that while the main character sees it as something to be sought after, or go to, it is instead a trap/his doom

[gwencatz]

I wished you had pointed out that the moonlight on the cover art is actually the lure of a female angler fish, it fits so well into your theory of the song! This was such a lovely video. Liked and subscribed :)

[tchapin]

I am not a lyric listener, but I enjoyed this entire album purely because of its musicality, so much so that I almost never considered the story the lyrics presented, just the melodies and how they connected between songs. But the idea of this story just makes the music feel so much more meaningful, almost like I get to listen to the album new all over again with this new perspective. Great video!

[bloombrains]

I find it interesting you dove into the topic of schizophrenia when analyzing ‘The Mind Electric.’
A little while ago, after Joe Hawley did some unsavory things (claims and accusations include transphobia, manipulation, dating younger women, and abuse), someone (Mathew Altruda) who was close to Tally Hall, put out a claim that entails his suspicions of Joe Hawley having undiagnosed Paranoid Schizophrenia. learning this makes listening to music written by Joe Hawley a different experience, as you are able to notice the tinges of reality and autobiography in his music.
Also, I think it is known that when Joe Hawley disappeared on that tour, it was later revealed he had a court case about a broken restraining order with a college ex of his. he mentions this ex quite often when interviewed about his music. It is also rumored that ‘Stranded Lullaby’ was written for this specific ex.
I have spent time in a psychiatric hospital, and there i managed to befriend someone who is still one of my closest friends to this day. He happens to be a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. When I showed him this album, he said that certain songs remind him of how it feels to him to just exist.
Anyway, this album definitely changed who i am as a person. It impacted me in my early teens, when i first discovered it- and with it, Tally Hall.
This video was great. The editing, the script, the analysis, everything was amazing and came to a satisfying end. Good job!

[victinihs]

I think the idea that this album is meant to have multiple interpretations is super fascinating, because the album's bonus track, Variations On A Cloud, basically says exactly that. It opens with the lyrics "Both of us see a cloud or whatever we may believe,
Being it may be proud or whatever we want to see". I think its very likely that this open-ended nature is intentional. Amazing video, the visuals were top notch!

[treggosaurus]

My headcanon is:
*Introduction to the snow* - A musician, the protagonist sining a love song, putting on a show. (sung by protagonist)
*Isle Unto Thyself* - The protagonist has fallen in love, he wants to live in the moment forever. (sung by protagonist and lover after deaths)
*Black Rainbows* - The lovers are enjoying each others company. (sung from the perspective of the love interest after death)
*White Ball* - The protagonist and lover in love. (sung by protagonist and lover after death)
*Murders* - The protagonist and lover are stalked by a third individual who is also in "love" with the lover. The protagonist is then lired away from the lover and she is murdered by the third party. (sung from the perspective of the murderer; the final part of the song is the protagonist finding the body of his lover)
*宇宙ステーションのレベル7* - The protagonist's dream of living in heaven with his lover. (sung by protagonist just before his death)
*The Mind Electric* - The protagonist has been framed for his lover's death and pleads insanity. He is then subjected to electroshock therapy whereby he actually goes insane. (sung by the protagonist during the time) [I believe that the distortion on the word "insane" is supposed to mimic "innocent".]
*Labrynth* - The protagonist tries to escape the infirmary/psych ward multiple times and is stopped. (sung by the protagonist during his attempted escapes)
*Time Machine* - The protagonist wishes he had a time machine so he could go back in time to before the murder. (sung by protagonist during his time in the infirmary)
*Stranded Lullaby* - The protagonist has escaped the infirmary via a row boat and is beginning his journey out to sea. (sung by protagonist just after his escape)
*Dream Sweet in Sea Major* - The protagonist's final hours, long after his escape as he is dying, hallucinating, reliving his experiences. He says his goodbyes to life, his song ending, and dies. (sung by protagonist at the end of his life).

So basically, man comes to Hawaii as a musician, falls in love, his lover gets murdered and he's framed for it, pleads insanity, goes insane due to electroshock therapy, attempts to escape the infirmary multiple times, finally does and dies alone on a rowboat on the ocean. I could rant on so much more about this album haha, I loved the video!