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Rating: Ok, imagine that right after death there is an elevator.
This elevator will take you upwards. To heaven.
The journey is somewhat long and thanks to a piped-in sound system, you, in this elevator, can listen to music. Just to 'kill' time.
Well, I'm convinced that this music would correspond to Circa Survive. Sure, maybe some of you would prefer to listen to Anaal Nathrakh or Cristina D'Avena in a moment like that, but it wouldn't be the same (at least for me). Because if angels sing, they surely sing like Anthony Green. And I challenge you not to be moved the first time you hear his voice.
I won't beat around the bush: "Blue Sky Noise", together with "Recitation" by Envy, is for me the album that most shook this 2010. It is certainly not an immediate album. To truly make it your own, you'll need to take it "in hand" numerous times. It will drive you mad as you assimilate it, but if you're patient, it will knock you out. Why? Because Circa Survive know how to create an atmosphere that is uniquely rare.
With them, I understand that the act of listening to music is something worth living, not as a simple pastime, but as a vital exercise. As essential as breathing. More specifically, these 12 songs give meaning to the wait for what comes "after". And by "after", I mean whatever you wish, at any moment of your life, whether it's beautiful or bleak. In short, it is not necessary that you are deceased, inside an elevator aiming straight at the celestial vault. It's as if this group is enveloped in a spiritual karma (if not all the members, then at least their singer Anthony Green) making every single song in their repertoire and beyond (like the cover of "Scentless Apprentice", the despair Green conveys in his voice is exactly that of the good Cobain) agonizing and solemn.
The sound proposal is made unique also by the visual imagery offered by the artworks of their works. All by the hand of that genius Esao Andrews, a visionary surrealist painter, who's been collaborating with Circa Survive since their first 'release'. If you've not yet admired his works, rectify that immediately here. "Blue Sky Noise" marks the transition to a major label for our guys and at the same time (according to the group itself) to "a new life". Also and especially, on a lyrical level. The dissonance created by the heaviness of certain lyrics with the sulpheric delicacy of the music is almost ridiculous.
All this makes this soundtrack of a hypothetical paradise more violent than certain music that would suit a hypothetical hell. Gradually "Imaginary Enemy" is becoming one of those few songs (alongside "Cornflake Girl", "Sober", "Ape Dos Mil", "San Diego Serenade" and "Teardrop" and a few others) that end the day and start a better one. Music that hits directly at our heart muscle. The first 3 seconds of "Get Out" are enough to take you to the empyrean, forget about an "elevator". Usually, in my sort of reviews, I include some links. But not this time. One clicks the link, perhaps even unwillingly, and casually listens to the suggested tune and off they go.
Circa Survive are not listened to in this way. You have to search for them and earn them.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
07 Frozen Creek (05:00)
Upon a pebble driveway
There sits a house
And it’s the loneliest place
I haven't spent much time there,
It wasn't allowed,
It just didn't feel right
‘Cause it’s all built upon a burial ground,
It just doesn't feel right,
It just doesn’t feel right
On top the frozen creek,
I would love to take you there
And swear it flows through me
On top the frozen creek
If I open both of my eyes,
I still see an empty space, so empty
But if I keep them closed
Then there's still a chance that something is out there
‘Cause it’s all built upon a burial ground,
It just doesn't feel right
It just doesn’t feel right
On top the frozen creek,
I would love to take you there
And swear it flows through me
On top the frozen creek
I made a promise to you long ago
I’d do the best that I can
I’d try and keep it
I made a promise to you long ago
That I’d do anything to keep this home
On top the frozen creek,
I would love to take you there
And swear it flows through me
On top of the frozen creek
I would love to take you there
08 Fever Dreams (04:35)
Sinking into my awareness
Realizing what's been done
I've taken a life and mine for granted
Neither planned or in passion
Riddled with guilt and crazy panic
My body tells my mind to run
Into the forest towards the mother
Though I've destroyed her favorite son
All the things I should have done,
All the things I should have done
Execution style in the courtyard
Where everyone awake can witness
The cowardly shot into the temple
All because I lost my temper
Burn the evidence, flee the scene
Always keep those fingers clean
Devil eyes stare into mine
They say there is no place I can hide
Now I must compare the consequence
End my life or just confess
I won't last a minute in confinement
Either way I'm going to hell
All the things I should've done
Oh, oh, oh
All the things I should have done
Oh, oh, oh
Either way I'm going to hell
Either way I'm going to hell
All my life
Passing
Before my eyes
All the time
I was awake
You were alive and just arriving
I couldn't see your eyes
All that is love is ever lasting
I didn't realize
I was awake
12 Dyed in the Wool (04:58)
It’s so sad for us
when we find ourselves
giving away, giving away
and it’s a shame for us
when we find ourselves
going to waste, going to waste
so throw away the love that we made.
(I know, I know)
and nothing’s going to change that
(I know, I know)
and nothing's going to change that hopeless feeling
I get when you say you'll understand and I know you can’t
There's no reason to be here
we should pack up and leave
I have never felt that way before totally alone
there's no reason to leave
I have never seen you act that way before, totally exposed.
As you throw away the love that we made
(I know, I know)
and nothing’s going to change that
(I know, I know)
and nothing's going to change that hopeless feeling
I get when you say you'll understand and I know you can’t
(I know, I know)
The longer it takes the more it goes to waste
(I know, I know)
I want to believe you but I can’t feel a thing
(I know, I know)
the more that you get the less you are
(I know, I know)
nothing’s going to change that hopeless feeling
I get when you say you'll understand and I know you can’t,
and I know you can't
and I know you can't help this feeling
I get when you say you'll understand and I know you can't.
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