Since the 1650s, sailors have reported castles, boats and islands in the ocean that, when further investigated, are revealed to have never existed. They weren’t phantom ships or mythical lands. Instead, they were fata morgana, an illusion caused by light traveling downwards and refracting off cold air near the water’s surface. Since our eyes and minds don’t account for refraction, we see the light bouncing back up and distorting in unusual ways, thereby creating the image of a distant object or place. Reports vary depending on the conditions: some fata morgana create what appear to be ships hovering above water in the distance while others show entire mountain ranges (such as the case of the Croker Mountains). Fata morgana have also been used as an explanation for viral videos such as China’s floating city. Flight b741 opens with a story about a location similar to said video.
The lyrics describe someone who lives in a small town and deals with their parents’ fighting at home. They want to escape their troubles by going to the land supposedly just across the horizon named Mirage City. The place seems to exist beyond our consciousness with the waters flowing superluminally, tachyons flying faster than we can comprehend and the Chinese goddess of the moon Chang’e playing music. The narrator is destined to go but has some doubts about its existence, guessing that it could just be a mirage. That said, they’re so eager to leave their life behind that they give it a shot anyways. They “follow the crow” before confirming their worst fears: that Mirage City was nothing more than an illusion. After this realization, the protagonist abandons their quest to this mythical place and decides to face their struggles head-on rather than run away.
Thematically the song has similarities to “The Last Oasis” and “Magenta Mountain” with how the narrator is trying to reach a place of debatable existence. Of course, “Mirage City” references The Silver Cord by bringing up Chang’e, but we can also tie this song indirectly to The Silver Cord’s folklore inspiration through fata morgana, which shares its name with the Italian name of Morgan le Fey, a sorceress in the legend of King Arthur. The song also alludes to “Paper Mâché Dream Balloon,” both songs deal with confronting personal issues and the lyrics draw a parallel between them. “Mirage City” has the line “so I build my own chimera and face up to its hate,” which ties into the line “when I get troubles my way, like paper mâché, they stick to chimera balloon and I kick it out my door.”
Musically “Mirage City” takes influence from country with prominent pedal steel work, yodels from Stu and breezy chord progressions befitting an artist like Hank Williams. However, the song also takes from southern rock, notably the massive peaks at the song’s beginning and end.