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There are many interesting groups from the early 90s indie (or post-wave) scene that were fatefully and unjustly relegated to a niche circuit in their homeland of Great Britain: among them, surely, are the Catherine Wheel.
Born in 1990, thanks to Brian Futter (guitar), Rob Dickinson (vocals and guitar), Dave Howes (bass) and Neil Sims (drums), the Catherine Wheel, whose name is probably due to "Colours Fly and Catherine Wheel" in the famous "New Gold Dreams" by the Simple Minds, were very appreciated by alternative rock enthusiasts in the United States, where they sought refuge, demoralized by the wave of easy and soulless Brit-pop and because they were decisively outdone in popularity by commendable bands like the Verve and the exceptional Radiohead. Curiously, the Ashcroft and Yorke groups started as supporters of the Catherine Wheel, who, by a sort of mocking irony, ended up experiencing the humiliation of seeing this situation completely reversed to their disadvantage.
This 1992 album, "Ferment," is a collage of dark, shoegaze, early new wave influences, dream pop, and psychedelia, and everything good from the previous decade, thanks also to artists like Echo & The Bunnymen and Pixies, considered by many as the main reference models for Catherine Wheel. The result of all this gives rise to an album with a stylistic and instrumental architecture of enviable expertise and genuineness, of enormous pathos, of dark and orgasmic atmospheres, of rich and full-bodied sounds. Futter and his guitar juggle passionate and visionary harmonies, supported by a bursting and uncontainable rhythm section and Dickinson's voice, deep and dreamy.
Tracks like "Flower to Hide," "Tumbledown" and "Salt" are a crescendo of fiery psychedelic cacophony, like the hallucinatory "Texture" and the captivating "She's my Friend" and "Black Metallic". With "I Want to Touch You" and "Tumbledown", Brian Futter's prowess becomes even more pronounced, engaged in arabesques of lysergic and explosive dissonance, like the opening riff of "Indigo Is Blue". Light and gentle is the eponymous track of the album, with delicate whispers and comforting melodies, alternated by sudden violent strumming; the closing track "Balloons" is fabulous, with a sweeping refrain similar to a carefree nursery rhyme.
Listening to "Ferment" gives you the sensation of entering a path surrounded by distorting mirrors; the impression it leaves is that of having heard sounds that take on body and life, a corporeality sometimes ethereal, seductive and barely perceptible, sometimes impetuous and tangibly devastating. This is the debut work of a band, unfairly relegated to a secondary role, worthy of being remembered as one of the happiest chapters of an era that today is experiencing a second youth, whose sophistication of arrangements and extraordinary emotional impact border on perfection.
Genre: indie-rock/noise/shoegaze
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Texture (04:19)
Safe on the shore I've been sleeping
Faced by the thoughts I've been keeping
To break down the door of my life
I need more texture
You need to give me more texture, texture, texture
You need to give me more texture
So deep inside I've been dreaming
In a space too confined, too concealing
It's a race to remind you of days I can't find
You need to give me more texture, texture, texture
You need to give me more
To break down the door of my life
I need more texture
You need to give me more
You need to give me more
Texture, texture, texture
You need to give me more texture, texture
02 I Want to Touch You (04:40)
I always thought the way you talked was neat
And I dreamed that when you speak, you speak to me
But you're always out of reach
And I can't control my speech
And I'm scared that when we meet, I'll want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
You're the only soul inside that makes me shake
And the crazy senseless things you make me take
It would really make my day
If you'd only move away
'Cause I'm scared that if you stay, I'll want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
But you're always out of reach
And I can't control my speech
And I'm scared that when we meet
I'm fermenting, can't you see
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
I want to touch you
Touch you, touch you, touch you, touch you, touch you
03 Black Metallic (07:18)
I've never seen you when you're smiling
It really gets under my skin
You say it's easy when it's faster
I still can't guess what you're after
It's the colour of your skin
Your skin is black metallic
It's the colour of your skin
Your skin is black metallic
Your skin is black metallic
Your skin is black metallic
I think of you when you're sleeping
Of all the secrets that you're keeping
You can't stay all day under the covers
'Cause under there you'll discover
It's the colour of your skin
Your skin is black metallic
It's the colour of your skin
Your skin is black metallic
Your skin is black metallic
You're turning black metallic...
It's the colour of your skin
It's the colour of your skin...
Your skin is black metallic
Your skin is black metallic
Your skin is black metallic
You're turning black metallic
It's the colour of your skin
Your skin is black metallic
Your skin is black metallic
Your skin is black metallic
Your skin is black metallic
Your skin is black metallic
Your skin is black metallic
05 She's My Friend (04:16)
I'm only waiting, 'cause she won't care
Shivers, shakes, and shallow
Hide the taste that's always there
I can say she makes no sense
My dreams are not drawn on much
'Cause she's my friend
'Cause she's my friend
'Cause she's my friend - oh
'Cause she's my friend - oh
'Cause she's my friend - oh
'Cause she's my friend
I found you in a garden in my sleep
But I'm walking over gravel
Forming blisters on my feet
You give me all the reasons that make no sense
I only choose to be here
'Cause she's my friend
'Cause she's my friend
'Cause she's my friend - oh
'Cause she's my friend - oh
'Cause she's my friend - oh
'Cause she's my friend
Oh, oh, oh, oh...
'Cause she's my friend - oh, oh, oh, oh
'Cause she's my friend - oh, oh, oh, oh
'Cause she's my friend - oh, oh, oh, oh
'Cause she's my friend - oh, oh, oh
06 Shallow (03:28)
You're wasting time
Time to shake and throw down
But I can't fight
You are the one to say goodbye
And when you shout my mouth is dry
Only when you try
Is your shallow water running high
You know what's inside
So glad to see
You take my hand between your knees
And once inside
I'll only take the things that shine
You always said those things were mine
You only said goodbye
When your shallow water got too high
You know what's inside
Only when you try
Because your shallow water growing high
You know what's inside
You know what's inside
You know what's inside
07 Ferment (05:10)
Sugar in the heart is burning Sweet on lips and eyes are glowing All the things you take are spinning 'round Such a waste but you can't taste What's coming down All the time you save You can turn this movie around Needle stings and blisters breaking Swinging moods and conscious fading All the things you dream while spinning 'round Always it seems to bring you, bring you down All the time you save You can turn this movie around You can turn this movie around Ferment Ferment Ferment Ferment Judy's always fading sugar voices when the sweetness is fermented Ferment Fermenting, fermenting, fermenting, oh Light, your fading light Ferment your life Your fading light Ferment your life Fermenting, fermenting, fermenting
08 Flower to Hide (04:43)
So make it shine
No need to fade
I'll make it hard on you
I'll make it glow
No need to show you this time
I'll make it easy
And I know
The sunlight bleaches you
It colours everything you do
And I know
A flower's fading far too soon
So think of a time
It's something to cling to
Imagine a life
That never escapes you
Conceal it behind
The colour and perfume
A flower to hide
A violet surprise
And I know
The sunlight bleaches you
It colours everything you do
And I know
A flower's fading far too soon
And I know
The sunlight bleaches you
It colours everything you do
And I know
The sunlight bleaches you
A flower's fading far too soon
09 Tumbledown (04:08)
Shout just to make it clear
So loud so as you don't hear
That I made no sound
The second time around
If all is turned around
So smooth just to show you care
You built a new mountain there
That I can tumble down
The very first time around
The very first time around
The very first time around
I let you see how high life could be
But you dropped me down
The very first time around
The very first time around
The very first time around
(are you in love with someone) ??? (let me tumble down) ???
10 Bill and Ben (04:09)
You're saying far too much
Your thoughts that twist and touch
You're killing time in the dark
That's coming down
Ah that's coming down
Ah...
You are young and full of heart
You are real but you are torn apart
It's taking all my time
How many days to find
Just staring up at the sun
That's coming down
Ah that's coming down
Ah...
You are young and full of heart
You are light and you are dark
You are real but torn apart
You are losing
You are young and full of heart
You are light and you are dark
It makes me mad, it makes me mad
You are real but you are torn apart
Ah ... Ah...
11 Salt (05:26)
(Oh safe towards yourself)
(She wants you with all your heart)
Between me always spinning ride
I slowly roll and seem to fly
The taste of salt and spinning ice
The taste of you it brings me higher
In this your shine
It's always time
It's always time
Oh we're only salt
Oh we're only salt
Oh we're only salt
It always felt like suicide
It always takes my life aside
To say I might, to say I will
The hardest part the heart is real
We miss your shine
It's only time
It's only time
It's only salt
It's only seas
It's only time
It's only time
I want to see myself in time
We miss your shine
It's only time
It's only time
12 Balloon (03:55)
Flying, show me how it feels
As dreams grow sinking clouds that must be real
Losing a touch of what is mine
It's proving tough as steel and dull as life
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
Ba-ba-ba-ba
Gliding cuts you down and shakes your ground
I'm reeling from the height of silent sound
You know it always takes inside
As dreams go up the earth is lost in flight
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
Ba-ba-ba-ba
Come down, come down, come down...
Come down, come down, come down...
Ba-ba-ba-ba
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
Ba-ba-ba-ba-balloon
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