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Rating: Still stunned from listening to an Animal Collective album, I felt the need to warm my soul with something intimate, simple, and approachable. My eye falls on Prazision by Labradford. But no. Then I see This Heat's self-titled album. I really don't think so. I start to hear a little voice in my head singing: "When you went blind And I nearly lost my mind It didn't last Cause you have another eyeliiiiiiiiiiid". But of course, how could I not think of it sooner? The answer was "This Is Our Music". This is our music. A moving title in its simplicity and straightforwardness. It's like saying, "We're not geniuses, we do what we can. But we try to do it in the best way possible. Hope you like it." Of course we like you, you're wonderful. Humble and beautiful. Oh my, the stony-hearted cynics might say they play the same song throughout the whole album. In part, they might be right, and it's precisely for this reason that I feel like praising them, because despite that, the emotional tension is always high. And personally, that’s what matters.
The Galaxie 500 seem to me to be the archetype of the unfortunate band. They are born and few notice. They release three studio albums, break up, each goes their own way, and no one notices. A destiny that sees them in the memories of a few unlucky souls. But this only makes them terribly charming in my eyes. Not three guys who played melancholy, but three guys who fed on melancholy. Languid melancholy, which they then had to expel in their works to avoid imploding from existential tedium. Perhaps with their minds constantly reaching towards what could have been and then wasn’t, who knows. Apart from the legacy of Cohen and Drake, their debt to the lesser-known Velvet Underground is obvious, just recall a "Jesus" or a "Candy Says" to notice it. And just refer to a "Here She Comes Now" (and compare it with the cover of the same you will find here) or a "Lady Godiva's Operation" to notice that the paranoid and neurotic aspect of Reed's band is almost entirely missing in the languid Galaxies. A description of the individual tracks would be futile; the band’s mood is the same throughout the work. Perhaps only Fourth of July, the track that opens the nostalgic dances, tries to render the atmosphere more "playful" (apologies to Wareham and ex-associates), with that tender initial guitar gallop that almost struggles to chase the ghosts of a past that doesn’t want to go away. Or maybe it tries to drive away those that it already sees looming in the immediate future. It's enough to know that listening to this album is a bit like cutting your throat with a honey-soaked knife.
Three guys with little ambition, moderately loved, highly moving.
Dear Animal Collective, maybe next time. Or in the next life.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Fourth of July (05:34)
I wrote a poem on a dog biscuit
And your dog refused to look at it
So I got drunk and looked at the Empire State Building
It was no bigger than a nickel
And if it don't improve
Then I have to move
I never thought that I would end up here
Maybe I should just change my style
But I feel alright when you smile
I stayed at home on the Fourth of July
And I pulled the shades so I didn't have to see the sky
And I decided to have a Bed In
But I forgot to invite anybody
And when I fell asleep
The neighbors had a peep
I never thought that I would end up here
Maybe I should just change my style
But I feel alright when you smile
03 Spook (04:37)
When you went blind
And I nearly lost my mind
It didn't last
Cause you have another eyelid
And when you smile
Then you give yourself away
It's all too much
And you have another eyelid
But when you cry
Then I know we are in trouble
It's all too much
And you have another eyelid
04 Summertime (06:00)
Nighttime at the boulevard
And I'm walkin home with you
The heat is just delicious
And you know just what to do
Mornin is so perfect
But the noontime makes me tired
Parkin in the park now
And I'm so glad that you were fired
Goin to the movies
I found a shelter from the sun
Heard a gruesome story
About a couple on the run
05 Way Up High (04:05)
Down to the clouds
Up from the roof
I missed the band
Why so aloof?
Way up high and goin too fast
Way up, way up high
Open your eyes
Come see my quilt
Big as the bed
Look what I built
Way up high and goin too fast
Way up, way up high
06 Listen, the Snow Is Falling (07:48)
Listen the snow is falling over town
Listen the snow is falling everywhere
Between Empire State Building
And between Trafalgar Square
Listen the snow is falling over town
Listen the snow is falling over town
Listen the snow is falling everywhere
Between your bed and mine
Between your head and my mind
Listen the snow is falling over town
Between Tokyo and Paris
Between London and Dallas
Between your God and mine
Listen the snow is falling everywhere
Snow dream
Snow fall
Snow fly
Listen
Listen
07 Sorry (04:16)
Well I'm sorry `bout the weather
And I'm sorry that the drive was much too far
Seems like everything is business
And we're sorry all the time
When we're home (All alone)
What is home? (On your own)
Home is home (All Alone)
Where we love the weather
Are you sorry that you love me?
Am I sorry I love you too?
Seems it doesn't make a difference
That we're sorry all the time
When we're home (All alone)
What is home? (On your own)
Home is home (All Alone)
Where we love the weather
All alone (What is home?)
On my own (What is home?)
All alone (Home is home)
And I love the weather
08 Melt Away (04:36)
My head will turn to yellow
My eyes will turn to green
My voice will turn to mellow
But still I can't be seen
Melt away
I wanna melt away
Melt away
Can you tell the difference
Or do I sound the same?
I do just what I want to do
This is my favorite game
Melt away
I wanna melt away
Melt away
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