Post by Smorgasberg on Sept 27, 2004 15:09:57 GMT -5
then listen to Folker. Sunday morning I was driving on my way back from a weekend of relatively mild debauchery with some friends in Baltimore and Washington, DC. I never was a strong debaucher, and I engage in excess so infrequently now that even a little packs quite a wallop.
Anyway, I was driving along feeling happy, but tired and ragged, and I cranked up Folker and just sort of let it flow over me. Well, let me tell you, if you're tuned into the music but not worrying about how much production is a good thing, and which lyrics are specifically autobiographical, and any of the other arcana we geeks thrive on, Folker will go straight to your heart and make it lurch around like a drunken sailor on shore leave.
On this listen, it just felt like a record that is absolutely saturated with real emotion. Every song has its own kind of sincerity. Even Jingle sounded like a real musician's heartfelt response to a lifetime of being annoyed with the "art versus commerce" debate. Here's your friggin' commercial, see how easy that was, now piss off, here's what I want to talk about.
The tracks all build in emotional intensity from the beginning to the end of the album. I tried to figure out what has always gotten to me about Breathe Some New Life, and I think it's the guitar solo that follows most of the singing. There's more longing in those squealing notes than in the simple, straightforward lyrics.
Finally, by Folk Star, he's just straight up screaming in the background. Somehow, the screaming said to me, that the f***ed up picture he's just painted throughout the other tracks is adamantly, exactly how he saw himself, and how he felt about himself at the time of writing these songs.
Or maybe I was just hung over. But whatever, it felt for the first time that I was listening to something truly great. Great in its unashamed, spontaneous presentation of emotion, instead of formal execution. Try listening when you're very tired, a little hungover, or whatever it is that silences the analytical and logical parts of your brain and see if you don't agree.
Anyway, I was driving along feeling happy, but tired and ragged, and I cranked up Folker and just sort of let it flow over me. Well, let me tell you, if you're tuned into the music but not worrying about how much production is a good thing, and which lyrics are specifically autobiographical, and any of the other arcana we geeks thrive on, Folker will go straight to your heart and make it lurch around like a drunken sailor on shore leave.
On this listen, it just felt like a record that is absolutely saturated with real emotion. Every song has its own kind of sincerity. Even Jingle sounded like a real musician's heartfelt response to a lifetime of being annoyed with the "art versus commerce" debate. Here's your friggin' commercial, see how easy that was, now piss off, here's what I want to talk about.
The tracks all build in emotional intensity from the beginning to the end of the album. I tried to figure out what has always gotten to me about Breathe Some New Life, and I think it's the guitar solo that follows most of the singing. There's more longing in those squealing notes than in the simple, straightforward lyrics.
Finally, by Folk Star, he's just straight up screaming in the background. Somehow, the screaming said to me, that the f***ed up picture he's just painted throughout the other tracks is adamantly, exactly how he saw himself, and how he felt about himself at the time of writing these songs.
Or maybe I was just hung over. But whatever, it felt for the first time that I was listening to something truly great. Great in its unashamed, spontaneous presentation of emotion, instead of formal execution. Try listening when you're very tired, a little hungover, or whatever it is that silences the analytical and logical parts of your brain and see if you don't agree.
You're killing me Harry!