it’s only illusions

it’s only an ebb and flow

it’s only a re-run

it’s only a so and so

it’s only a glimpse now

it’s only a glancing blow

it’s only a mind game

it’s only rock and roll

it’s only allegiance

it’s only heart and soul

just tell me a lie now

just tell me you can’t let go



it’s only illusions

it’s only illusions



my mind is at war

i lie awake in bed

like a splinter in my hand

like a splinter in my head

the promises we’ve sworn

and every word you’ve said

like a splinter in my hand

like a splinter in my head



don’t worry pedro

don’t tell me i think i know

cause i’m on the payroll

the cursed kaleidoscope

am i the pollution?

am i the foregone conclusion?

it’s only illusions

it’s only illusions



it’s only de-evolution



who can take these broken splinters from my head?



it’s only illusion, it’s only illusion

in all this confusion

i start to forget what i’m doing



it’s only a splinter in my hand

it’s only a splinter in my head

it’s only illusion



Behind the Song:

splinter: story behind the song - by Jon Foreman

Our consciousness is a strange and remarkable gift. To know, to discern, to choose- what a miracle!

And yet, there are moments when my sanity comes into question. Times when I feel close to the edge of reason and folly, when I recognize how fragile my mental stability truly is. And maybe I’m not the only one‽

Hypnagogia is the technical term for the transitional state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. During hypnagogia, it's common to experience involuntary and imagined experiences. Your body is at rest, but your mind has long left the room… racing from hopes to fears, from facts to fictions, futures to phantoms.

The instability of 2020 made it hard for me to get to sleep. My thoughts would go racing forward, and for the first time in my life I knew what an anxiety attack felt like. Of course, if my mind needed any help getting weird, on my bedside table there’s a screen filled with distractions, illusions, allegiances, and more. But I don’t need war on the TV, or on my phone. No, the battle is much closer to home. My mind is at war. I lie awake in bed.

The trouble is with me, for I am all too human… I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate… I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway…

“Who can take these broken splinters from my head?”

I love Tony’s daughter’s voice in this one. Originally, the chorus felt much more abrasive and brittle. I asked Tony if he knew of a singer that could lend her voice to the track to help smooth my vocals. And he suggested Z. She’s amazing and, being that Switchfoot is a family band, I love that the Berg family is well represented on the album.