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Rating: Perhaps I made a huge, colossal mistake/horror: the first Blonde Redhead album I listened to was "Misery Is A Butterfly" from 2004.
That album captivated me like a bear caught in a trap. For once, the title of an album truly emphasized its content: the songs contained were so ethereal and muffled, but never boring or banal, appearing like the movements of a butterfly dancing in the wind, with very rare instances of speeding up the rhythm (above all, "Equus," a devastating indie-rock masterpiece). That album captured me deeply, tore my heart away making it its own, casting a powerful spell over my ears, intent on enjoying an ecstatic and enraptured "Elephant Woman." No doubt about it: that Italo-Japanese group was manna from heaven. I didn't pursue it further, and I still don't understand why. Perhaps because I was so lost among those tracks that I didn't want to listen to their previous works, fearing them too inclined to something different and less magical.
Only a few days ago I decided to muster the courage, attracted by the scarlet red cover of "Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons" abandoned on a shelf in a record store for 6.90€, as if it were any Tatangelo's disc. I was tempted, like bees are by honey. The title for that little masterpiece dated 2004 was so spot on and impressively faithful. I imagined the sound of tortured and smashed lemons. I couldn't imagine it.
Sour? Rough? = Iron guitars and screeches?
I didn't think twice and picked it up.
The beginning is stunning. We are far removed from the ethereal visions of "Misery Is A Butterfly" and yet it captivates me once again. A brief instrumental is a sort of intro to the splendid six-minute suite "In Particular."
Kazu is a siren who has lost her foothold and is lost in the midst of a storm of devastating waves. The rhythm is almost ambient, but a sharp guitar is an integral part of a truly enviable and enveloping sound structure.
"Lying on my back/I heard music/I felt insecure and catastrophic/I had to tell myself it was just music/It blows in my head/Everyone else is so boring/No one is good enough." Kazu is speaking to me!
I'm wondering if this almost ancestral and feverish melody comes from another world and is truly music or if it's just my senses. Amidst all those repeated "X"s at the end of the text. I'm lost.
Until I rejoin a rough and poignant post-rock of "Melody Of Certain Three." Kazu returns in an almost post-rock piece called "Hated Because Of Great Qualities." Kazu is a witch, with her fairy child voice that is at times whiny and unbearable, but you can't free yourself from it. It scratches your skin inexorably. While the instruments below accompany her to a fountain of senses, concluding with a spurt of hallucinated emotions.
I find myself on a deserted island. I never would have thought the band from "Misery" could have produced another album of chronic hallucination, so far off in terms of sound, yet compelling and poignant.
Gorgeous "Love Despite Of Great Faults," which is a sort of love encounter between rock and the human soul. Completely different "Ballad Of Lemons," which dangerously veers into ambient. Surprising, in its scant two minutes, which plunge into the indie-rock march "This Is Not," percussions, synthesizers intertwine in a dance of macabre intuitions. Kazu's voice is quite delirious, but well at ease with the quirky choice of musical accompaniment.
"A Cure" is a splendid and unexpected duet between the two voices of the group. Man and woman meet, musically court, until complete final absolution. The atmosphere is tense and sharp, like a sheet of paper staining the wrinkled fingertip with blood. More emotions in "For The Damaged," an amazing voice-piano interpretation, offered by the sensational sensuality of a Kazu in a state of grace, on tiptoe.
"Mother" is pure hardcore anger: exactly what I expected from the album's title. Kazu has lost control, she's possessed like a wounded phoenix. Sensual and cursed. A bonus track closes Pandora's box with extreme grace and sensuous erotic ambiguity.
Much more wicked and sour than "Misery," yet still surprising. I mentioned earlier having made a mistake by listening to this album second? Yes, and I'm still convinced... perhaps I would have appreciated the music contained in both albums even more, managing to enjoy the musical and inner evolution of this incredible band.
To be listened to with fervor.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 In Particular (06:05)
Lying on my back, I heard music
Felt unsure and catastrophic
Had to tell myself it's only music
It blows my mind, but it's like that
Anyone there? What could you tell me?
Afraid of what? Would you ever know?
Everyone else is really boring
Anyone else wouldn't be good enough
Some place safe, I would imagine
Someone new would be so cruel
Incurable paranoiac, hysterical depression
X X X Alex I'm your only friend
X X X Alex your love will sing for you
(repeat)
Some place safe, I would imagine
Someone new would be so cruel
Incurable paranoiac, hysterical depression
X X X Alex
X X X Alex X X
X X X Alex
X X X Alex your love will sing for you
03 Melody of Certain Three (03:53)
Crawl, crawl as a child
Move like a man
Pushing like a father
Pulling like a friend
Whatever it takes forever it seems
But despite of all that all is well
Sexing like stone
Hot as the sand
Entering a life
Exiting with a man
Whatever it takes forever it seems
But despite of all that all is well
Sometimes i spin around for days
Skip and chase and say
Forget about tomorrow
Until i realize
This valid and logic motion
Is what keeps me from moving
I don't understand
Running running on tracks
With feet on the ground
It will only slow me down
And which way the wind blows
I run like a man ready to go anywhere
When i am so timid
You'll be my words
When i am most effective
You act like a stone
Whatever it takes forever it seems
But despite of all that all is well
04 Hated Because of Great Qualities (04:42)
Secret, so sorry, but I forgot
Secret, secret, we are bound to forget
I was worried I might be rude to you
So worried that I was
It's a lie to serve the truth
And I'm still guilty
Oh, I missed
So be it
Everywhere, everything you ever touch
Cutting it won't do it
There's nothing to it
You were sorry that I was alone
So sorry you ran away
Putting it on me, but you already knew it
Oh, it was never meant to be
So be it
I can't understand this at all
I can't pronounce this at all
These are different matters
These are uncertain feelings
These should never be discussed
So keep it to yourself
Oh, I missed
So be it
Everywhere, everything you ever touch
Cutting it won't do it
There's nothing to it
You were sorry that I was alone
So sorry you ran away
Putting it on my, but you already knew it
Oh it was never meant to be
So be it
I can't understand this at all
I can't pronounce this at all
These are different matters
These are uncertain feelings
These should never be discussed
So keep them to yourself
07 This Is Not (04:50)
Once she loved a boy. But he did not love her.
His name was Jun. Disillusioned she tried to forget.
So she left everything & traveled to the other side of the world.
But life was like a dream.
A series of meaningless movement.
And then by chance she met you & your brother.
The moment she saw you.
She knew you were made for her.
You're never out of her thoughts. She sees only you.
If it was yesterday he'd felt free just like her
He could have been with her
But today can't be anymore
Tomorrow maybe yes. But today he is not there.
I heard someone say
That mind keeps wondering from desire to contempt
From contempt to desire
Never ever feeling bored. Cause we think we are free.
I think it's so pathetic. Don't you ?
Were you listening to me. No not even one word.
I heard someone say that mind keeps wondering
Life is like a dream. A series of meaningless movement.
I heard someone say
Let's go to the other world
Because we think we are free. A series of meaningful
Movement
La la la
08 A Cure (05:23)
Everybody knows he is a pleaser
Nothing else than just a teaser
Teaser of his own faint smile
Yes and how he’s so amusing
Smiling can be so consuming
And so strange to explain
Oh I know how I think I might
Have known of you somehow and
What your name was
Like any other man in many ways he’s not
Like life itself a mystery or two
Hey Mr. Pleaser would you smile for me
Yes and how many times he hasn't
Spoken just to please not to displease
Please her if you please
Oh I see how his life resembles
Yours and you somehow are like him.
I see I know I’ve been too good for you
you know he’s just like me
pleasing you and now all
you do is wish
I was more and more like him
if so would you consider keeping me
closer I know,
He turns his head and doesn't see you
but when he does he looks to greet you
how are you? Good luck!!
So now I call myself a pleaser
this time sitting on a secret
one secret everybody knows
Oh I see how
His life resembles yours
And you somehow are like him.
I see I know I’ve been too good for you
you know, you know that he is just like me
pleasing you and now and now
All you do is wish
I was more and more like him
if so would you consider keeping me
closer if so, you know if I was more and more like him
If so would you consider keeping me closer? I know,
I know if I was more and more like him. If so..
09 For the Damaged (03:02)
Maybe again
He will be alone
Guess we're equally damaged
Find your name
Do it all the same equally
Signal when you can't breathe no more
Say you were me
Then you could see the view
You'll know we are equally damaged
Don't be a fool, make it easier
You'll learn to say when
Signal if you can't say, "no more"
Don't cross your finger
Sundays will never change
They keep on coming
You'll be a freak
And I'll keep you company...
10 Mother (02:08)
You pay for that
You're wrong if you think it was a loan.
I'm on to you
You're fading out
You wrong if you think I'm alone
I will never fall
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Other reviews
By donzaucher
"To say they are a unique band is an understatement."
"I challenge you not to bob your head while listening!"
By ZiOn
Their noise-rock seems to soften, leaving room for more melodic moments that are no less original.
An intimate and delicate work that will continue to surprise you with every listen.
By masturbatio
Those blood-red squares on the cover have carved into my soul, which soars every time I approach Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons.
Kazu Makino’s timbre is not only elusive, it’s poisonous, it grates gracefully on mere mortals who have had the pleasure of listening to it at least once in their lives.
