Beach House – Silver Soul lyrics

I think this song is about having bi-polar illness. Silver is a metal that once was considered precious but is now considered common and ordinary, it's also 2nd best when given as a medal. It's shiny but dulls rather quickly and takes a lot of work to keep lustrous. It's something that is both celebratory and dross, it has a dual nature.

-We gather medicine for heartache

People who are in the depressed state of bi-polar and who are prescribed meds often hate taking them because it gives them muted effect, and instead take street drugs to get a reprieve from their depression. They consequently often act overly quirky to stave off their internal darkness.

-So we can act a fool

Depressed people in taking drugs, do so in order to turn away from themselves, to get away from the pain of living. Their lives are incomplete because they're not living authentically.

-It's incomplete without you
-The silver soul is running through
-It's a vision, complete illusion, yeah

The next verse starts off talking about life...

-The needle along the spinning wheel
-Collecting silver coil

In Greek mythology the fates spin the thread of destiny on a celestial loom, and to cut the thread means to end the thread of one's life. Also, in astral projection a sliver thread is said to connect the astral (immaterial) body to the physical body. So the preceding lines of lyrics could indicate a passage of time or the unfolding of one's life.

-It gathers heat without you
-Whether or not you're turned from it
-It's a quick turn to let it figure out

Life continues to unfold whether you're consciously living it or not, or whether you're turned toward it or away from it. If you're depressed you're turned away from it but, all it takes is a quick turn to see it.

-The bodies lying in the sand,
-They're moving in the dark

People who are bi-polar are often hyper-sexual in their manic state. The previous 2 lines seem to me, someone engaged in sex at night on a beach.

-It is so quick to let us
-We feel it move through our skin
-It's a sickness, a manic weakness, yeah

The previous 3 lines are talking about the manic state of being bi-polar. It's quick and upbeat like you can do anything, like it's moving you with a will of its own. The last line's "manic weakness" is the juxtaposition of opposite words 'manic' eluding to a feeling of excitement and 'weakness' to that of lacking, which in themselves are bi-polar.

The following refrain, which repeats over and over speaks to the nature of bi-polar. One never knows when it will strike again, but when it does you can feel it start to embrace you and take you over.

-It is happening again