•
Rating:
The new work from Blonde Redhead comes a bit late, considering it's been 4 years since the damaged lemons of "Melody" and 3 since the linguistic adventures of "Melodie Citronique"... and it shows, ciumbia if it shows. Just listen to the first, melancholic notes of Elephant Woman: decadent atmospheres with a classic and Central European flavor (from Touch&Go to 4AD, is it noticeable?! the Cocteau twins are knocking on the door...), a sound transposition, crafted with heavy doses of keyboards and guitars, of the Art Nouveau style (and intricate flowers everywhere, from the booklet to the T-shirts!); Simone and his drums always colossal without seeming so, the beautiful voices of Amedeo and the sweet, shy, and absent Kazu and... the electronics? The electronics are the great, apparent absence of "Misery": those harsh experiments that in 2000 had branded that masterpiece "Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons" now reduce to an imperceptible background, they touch up, refine, but remain in the background.
Songs then, in the classic sense: the first impression is that they all seem a bit similar to each other, but here lies the beauty of the record: a few listens and you can't get these melodies out of your head, and time after time you notice nuances that previously went unnoticed... as they say, complexity behind simplicity.
Result? A different, ethereal, soft and delicate album (Less electronic Air, cleaner and calmer My Bloody Valentine, Smiths, Japan, and Cabaret Voltaire less 80s, all in the blender and press start), in some cases on the edge of a dream (Anticipate, Magic Mountain); it seems that only Equus, placed at the end, maintains contact with the band's recent past ("In an Expression..."), but perhaps there are more links scattered throughout the album with "Melodie Citronique", especially for the echoes of Serge Gainsbourg (the French songwriter who they covered with Slogan 3 years ago) and for the influence of certain sounds typical of Italian light music from the '60s - '70s (especially Battisti, whom the Pace twins confirmed they appreciate).
In short, not a Blonde Redhead album as we knew them.
Perhaps a step back, inevitable, compared to its predecessor, but... take Radiohead: they have always moved forward in complexity, with courage, and now they are stuck in a masterpiece of technique from which, however, little or no feeling emanates, so aseptic it is...
...sometimes perhaps it's good to rewind, like Blonde Redhead, and change course.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Elephant Woman (04:49)
Angel, I can see myself in your eyes
Angel, won’t you feel for me from your heart?
Ah, do return my heart to me
No, don’t insist, I’m already hurt
Elephant girl, it was an accident unfortunate
Angel threw me like a rubber man, aiming for the ground
Why amuse yourself in such way?
No, don’t insist, I’m already hurt
Lay me down on the ground, softly softly
Don’t remove, my head hurts much, too much
Ah, you never return it, well, I wouldn’t miss it
I shed no tears for broken me
Ah, you never know it, my peace of mind
Now inside and outside are matching
Ah, you never return it, well, I wouldn’t miss it
I shed no tears for broken me
Ah, you never know it, my peace of mind
Why amuse yourself in such way?
No, don’t insist, I’m already hurt
Ah, if you never return it will it break your wings?
Will you shed no tears for broken me?
02 Messenger (03:21)
Stay still, be still
No wonder you are always lost
If a messenger you must be known
Then messages you must return
To be seen by demanding hands
And touches of jealous men
Invisible and forgivable
To all their secret hands
Be it so be quick, don’t run
Just walk and walk and walk
Don’t lose yourself to decorate
Somewhere on your wall
Cause somewhere in your mind
You know you are doing fine
Holding secret hair locks
You’ll pluck before you hide
So how can I keep anything to myself?
So how can I keep anything to myself?
So how can I keep anything to myself?
Behind those clouds
I’m almost home
04 Doll Is Mine (03:06)
Mine is an act of love
Mine is a wish to solve
And mine is to sink by your side
You are to be amused
And you are never to be confused
In your first love
Your first time
Why a doll so they tell me
Cause she is mine
Faith and fully mine
I must say
This love hasn’t changed me
Cause I feel fine
Faith and fully mine
I must have seen too much skin
Much more than I needed to
And much more than I wanted to dream
I must have felt so much pain
It’s funny how some things do remain
It isn’t true that things do change
Isn’t it strange how pain remains
But don’t look sad cause it isn’t sad
Now that I have you to myself
05 Misery Is a Butterfly (05:07)
Dearest Jane I should’ve known better
But I couldn’t say hello, I didn’t know why
But now I think, I think you were sad
Yes you were, you were, you were
What I say, I say only to you
Cause I love and I love only you
Dearest Jane, I want to give you a dream
That no one has given you
Remember when we found misery
We watched her, watched her spread her wings
And slowly fly around our room
And she asked for your gentle mind
Misery is a butterfly
Her heavy wings will warp your mind
With her small ugly face
And her long antenna
And her black and pink heavy wings
Remember when we found misery
We watched her, watched her spread her wings
And slowly fly around our room
And she asked for your gentle mind
06 Falling Man (03:26)
Tell me how you seek your man
And tell me all your secret spells
Tell me how you learn
To tell by his voice that he fell
I know a ghost will walk through walls
Yet I am just a man still learning how to fall
Try to re-imagine me
And I’ll re-invent myself
Still I remember scenes
Of when you looked at someone else
I know a ghost can walk through the wall
Yet I am just a man still learning how to fall
When you start doubting me
Then I start to doubt myself
And never look through me
Cause I’ll keep close to myself
I know a ghost can walk through the wall
Yet I am just a man still learning how to fall
I am what I am
And what I am is who I am
I know what I know
And all I know is that I fell
If only I could walk through the wall
Then maybe I would tell who I was
Yet I am just a man still learning how to fall
07 Anticipation (04:04)
Anticipate and evaluate
What he thought
And what I thought before
You’re broken like me
Like me before
Dark place is your place
I take dark drive to your place
You’re staring me
You’re staring with your inside eyes
Knowing you, knowing me
We’re deeply sorry
You’re broken maybe baby
Maybe it didn’t happen
Maybe all of this would go away
And if we’re ever young again
He’ll anticipate
We’ll evaluate
08 Maddening Cloud (03:20)
Sure you can look back
If it means moving on
And you can take me back
But you must come home
We are both a in maddening cloud
And you can touch me there
Just don’t leave me alone
And you can call me softly
When I dream and ask for more
You can slow and fold and mold my mind
And she said
I can’t feel my toes
And she must be alone
And far too cold
And he stares
Like he doesn’t see
He must be scared
And far too lost
Under and over
We must have glanced
Face to face
We’ve had to dance
We’re both in a maddening cloud
Sure you can step back
If it means moving on
And you take me back
But you must be alone
You can choke and smoke and rock my mind
09 Magic Mountain (03:02)
At magic mountain
Nobody sings today
Nobody speaks today
Close my eyes
And hope to see
Weeks go by like a day
In a lowland
I live here on magic mountain
No one leaves magic mountain
At magic mountain
Nothing changes
Everything stays the same
Cross my heart
And hope to live
All the time
With a little fever
I stay here on magic mountain
No one leaves magic
My heart can hear you sing
My heart can see you speak
But I never make it in the flatlands
I must stay on magic mountain
11 Equus (03:49)
Allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
sometimes I think I must
just let you be
let you be a horse
all I want is to be a rider
to be part of you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
sometimes I think I must
just let you be
let you be a horse
all I want is to be a rider
afraid so afraid
to loose you
if someone looks at you
turn into donkey
pretend you are lame
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
Equus by nature, timid creature
ready to run away
Equus by nature, timid creature
cares nothing for the plans they made
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
allow me to show you
the way which I adore you
(I will hide you will protect you
won't let anyone take you away)
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By donzaucher
Every song is a (positive) surprise, including the two slower ones and the final one, the most psychedelic.
This CD is VERY beautiful: it is more mature than the previous one, longer, more complete... more complex but no less accessible.
By ZiOn
The noise of their beginnings seems definitively subdued, where the guitars merely serve as a backdrop to more complex arrangements.
"Equus" showcases their best, shedding excessive embellishments and reclaiming a simplicity that gives hope for the future.
By Mariaelena
Misery is a butterfly of rarefied beauty and chaste love.
An electro-pop melody with dilated and caressing atmospheres, disarming beauty, transpiring pain, from a crystal-clear source.
