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Rating: The masterpiece was in the air, solely and exclusively a matter of time; with "White-Out Conditions," Bel Canto introduced themselves, demonstrating from the outset that they had the makings of champions, and with a bit more experience behind them, a clearer, more organic, and elaborate vision, as well as greater availability of economic means, the consecration was not long in coming, materializing as early as 1989 with this "Birds Of Passage," a work of art I do not hesitate to call sublime without any kind of reservation. Changing, mutable, and enigmatic, this album gracefully slithers into the listener's psyche despite the impressive deployment of winds and strings that theoretically could have weighed down the sound. As much as I try, I can't find a single flaw, even a venial one; a perfect fusion of electronic, world music, folk, and operatic pop, poetry, and spiritual elevation, many different sounds that harmoniously merge into a sensual and disorienting flow, so beautiful, pure, and uncontaminated that it doesn't even seem of this world.
Anneli sings very differently compared to the debut, often seeking a relatively low register here, a confident and linear approach that inspires the attention and reverence due to an extraordinary, almost sacred figure; a change in line with the calmer and more reflective atmospheres of the album, sometimes veering into a trip-hop contaminated by ethnic influences as in "Intravenous", a spiritual introspection in search of a guiding light, and "Birds Of Passage", hermetic poetry centered on change as the natural and inevitable order of things or pure and ethereal in a melancholic snapshot of solitude like "Picnic On The Moon", where the candid lyricism of a child's fantasy shatters against the disenchanted prose of reality. The more shamanic and dark soul of Bel Canto lives again with "Dewy Fields", where percussion and French horns mark a cadenced and martial rhythm interspersed with a hypnotic piano line, almost reliving in a more unconscious and allegorical perspective the disorientation of "White-Out Conditions" and in the dark-orchestral elegy of "The Suffering", whose words seem to echo those of Calypso, the pain of the awareness of eventually having to lose her Ulysses and return to a life of solitude, "Tears won't help me find the reason why you suddenly disappeared out of my sight, I was mistaken but now I'm sure, I love you still but silently inside I know my feelings won't change your mind". Rem
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Look 3 (04:34)
No kindness
when there's lack of dignity
politeness
has to join simplicity
no caution
without pure sincerity
compliance
has to join with bravery
No mildness
without some solidity
no power
without simple honesty
no courage
without justice joined within
good nature
and discretion makes a team
02 Dewy Fields (04:03)
Go
Go to seek and find
What you're hoping for
Come
The treasure is yours
You're running out of time
When morning comes
Your dreams are real
In dewy fields
Your trace is left behind (behind)
So very little time
So very little hope
You're longing for someone
While the rain is falling down
Looking, seeking, you are searching for someone
You're crossing the dewy fields
You're walking in the woods
There's someone catching up
They're someone watching over you
Keeping secret your precious thing
Your treasure is
Your enemy
03 Continuum (04:35)
embrujo, bajo el sol cuando llueve y sube el calor mojando la piel bewitchment under the sun when it rains and the heat goes up [1] getting the skin wet ven aqui, junto a mi mueve el aire y empuja el aqua apaga ese rumor move the air and push the water come here, beside me end that rumour [2] alli no te detienes giras y siempre te mueves una maldicion? y te obliga a bailar ay ay y no puedes parar es un ritmo oculto, magico continuum there you don't stop you spin and always move a curse? and it forces you to dance Oh!, Oh!, and you can't stop it's a hidden, magic rhythm continually embrujo, bajo el sol cuando lleuve y aprieta el calor mojando mi piel bewitchment under the sun when it rains and the heat tightens getting my skin wet ven aqui, junto a mi mueve el aire y empuja el agua apaga ese rumor come here, beside me move the air and push the water end that rumour alli no te detienes corres i siempre te mueves una maldicion? mama, ma, mama, mama ay, ay, y no puedes parar en un ritmo oculto, magico continuum si... there you don't stop you run and never stop a curse? mama, ma, mama, mama oh, and you can't stop it's a hidden, magic rhythm continually yes... Translation by Juan Montoya, <fausto@iec.csic.es> [1] I.e, it gets hotter. [2] Literally, "turn that rumour off". In spanish "rumor" can also be the distant sound of a river or rain water.
10 A Shoulder to the Wheel (04:17)
You're conquered and your blood is pounding
In your ears
But you're doing fine
Find the broken pieces and then start anew
You make yourself believe that you did
Something right
You're denying your only wish
By forgetting your promises
Once and for all
And for ever more
If you finally reach your aim
You will never be able to
Gain back the time you lost between
You're trying hard to reconstruct your image
And you're doing right
But I think that you will always stay like this
When you put your idle shoulder to the wheel
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By giovanniA
The album never becomes monotonous or confined to an unchangeable stylistic dimension.
Bel Canto presents a lively and curious work, destined to remain in the hearts of only a few enthusiasts.
