Article response: Mezzanine = Paradise Lost

Near the very end of PL, Eve feels supremely bad about not being in Eden anymore. However, Adam reassures her that their banishment is for the best of mankind. After all, he says, it is her offspring that will trample the head of the serpent that led them to this exile. More importantly, though, from her the eventual Savior of humanity will spring. This view comes from a Christian/Catholic concept of the Fortunate Fall (of Adam and Eve). If they had not been expelled of Eden and had remained there (and remaining immortal), Christ would never have been born or even needed.

The title to the last track on Mezzanine, "(Exchange)," immediately connoting an afterthought because it is paranthetical. One might even consider this paranthetical title to indicate a conclusion or resolution to the album, and it is in this vein that it corresponds to the end of PL. Moreover, the water imagery (the sampled strings floating upwards, the bubbling synths), traditionally a symbol of rebirth and/or salvation, is a reference to the salvation of humanity through the Savior.

Finally, the song ends, but the track still has several seconds of silence. When all the music ends, there remains a blank canvas where the MA allow the listener to inherit the load of the album, and the silence is a transition from the album to the reality that exists beyond the album. The silence recalls then Adam and Eve leaving Eden, having inherited the Earth and the prophecy of the Savior.