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Rating:
It starts with a rain of shards and debris like “Hanged”; an intro with a psychotic sound and a vaguely mocking tone. “Woodcat” sounds much like an enchanted nursery rhyme by Syd Barrett. Few dense sounds, harmonic singing, yet so subtly insistent that it penetrates the mind. It seems impossible to believe the words you're hearing.
The theatrical tones are heightened with “The Wind Up Bird”, a funny joke. The beats intersect with the baritone voice trying to sound sweet. It all takes the form of a playful electronic ballad of the Eels type. “Red & Green” continues in this direction, with more pathos; the synthetic sounds perfectly accompany the sweet, flowing, and relaxed ballad. Always intensely.
“Stories” starts with a fast arpeggio and a robotic voice that changes with the subsequent tempo changes, then settles, always traversed by creaks and electronic voices. In “Jenny Again”, another enchanted nursery rhyme, evocative atmospheres grow, thanks to the small noises always placed at the right moment, completing the sound, as well as the discreet guitar. The suggestion transforms into emotional momentum with “Man in a Box”, paced by crackling sounds, yet so melodic and relaxed as to captivate at first impact.
The melodic turn of “Jay Down” shouldn't be misleading because the sounds immediately become disorienting; everything happens in the subconscious. It's a slow spiral towards unknown places. Choirs evoke clouds in the sky, a cold voice seems to issue orders. It's all magically packaged inside a magma of hissing sounds so light they're not noticed, yet essential for creating these fascinating frescoes.
“It Because We’ve Got Hair” has a catchy rhythm, but it doesn't stray from the other songs. Always magically discreet and balanced in their splendid originality. “Sweet William” is particularly beautiful. A dark sound envelops it. It's a continuous crescendo that breaks into a brief, dense instrumental pause. Humorous but still pleasant ending.
“Engine Room” is an open construction site that opens in all directions. Fascinating and evocative, it's nothing but a summary of the album, where melancholic guitars merge with robotic voices, bells, and dark noises into a dreamy and evocative suite like never before.
“Comments Of The Inner Chorus” is an album with no pretense. It's a humble, very delicate album. It can be listened to as an album of intimate ballads, but if you dig deep, you will find a work rich in details and perfectly balanced.
In this diversity of possible interpretation lies the richness of this album, which nonetheless requires more variety.
An enchanted and refined album.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Woodcat (03:51)
Woodcat oh once a girl but not since the incident
Lives in the darkness making friends with the animals
Eyes burning yellow I miss your sweet kisses
I miss having coffee in bed watching TV
The ghost of an image it's just fleeting glimpses
You're there then you're gone through the roots and the nettles
I miss your hard edges I miss your bone marrow
I miss having coffee in bed watching TV
And we all had a lovely time
I'll look for a man to turn me into a hare
Just like they did when you did what you did
And the court came around and the verdict flew out
And the rats ran about and the change trickled down
And they left your brown body gentle and shivering
Back in the clearing with the deer in the evening
And I'll come and find you; small sleek and silent
And we'll live like lovers in an old wooden rhyme
And we're in for a lovely time
Come close up to me, fire in an open hearth
Raised in a vessel of our only action
Some satisfaction, some sweet satisfaction
From all of this everything, spun 'round the middle
And they said it was a lovely time
04 Red and Green (02:40)
Red heels and bright blue eyes
Walking a steady line
Fire bombs and mortar shells
Deep kisses through the night
Dancing on thin ice
Chained up at the ankles
I look in your red eyes
And cover my green skin
Twist like an adder
Fall like a slice of snow
Dart between rocks
And I know what the darkness knows
Annie don't cry it's a delicate thing that we made
Sparrow don't cry it's a delicate thing that we made
Blind time, weighed out in time
Smite our own private sea
Time, gargantuan beat
Red and Green
Pick up my skin from the shelf by the bed
I can slip into my old ways, slip down the stairs
Let me make you sweet tea
Let me make you hot toast
Let me kiss you all over my only, my host
And in time, time, somewhere in time
Sail our own private sea
Time, sweet, terrible, sweet
Red and Green
Annie don't cry it's a delicate thing that we made
06 Jenny Again (03:22)
Throw the knife into the stream
Run away across the fields
Leave me lying where I fell
Rivers running out of me
Meet my Jenny in the lane
Take a car and run away
Get as far as you can get
Before the new day
Your heart beats quick and strong
Your mind pores over it all
Don't worry because no one saw me fall
Sit inside a little chef
Look around but not at her
See my kisses on her lips
See my fingers in her hair
Think of this against your will
See the knife edge slipping in
See the questions in my eyes
As I ask them
I went so quick it makes you shudder that I'm gone
Are we so brittle has your soul turned into stone
And though you loved me I'm not Jenny in the night
Some decisions don't thread back to being right
Your head blurs quickly tonight
Your edges diffuse in the light
Don't tell me that your throat is getting tight
Change your name and find a job
Marry Jenny in the spring
Buy a dog and call him Pete
Push the children on the swings
Think about me now and then
Try to find a peaceful space
Count the days as they go by
Count the lines upon your face
Your heart beats quick and strong
Your mind pores over it all
Don't worry because no one saw me fall
10 Sweet William (03:35)
I saw you kiss sweet William
In a forest of red leaves
The rain ran cold against my neck
The wind lay down to sleep
I walked all night in stillness
And I walked all day as well
I walked across the desert plains
And through the jagged hills
I slept inside the north wind
In a coracle at sea
And in the deepest darkest woods
My dreams sang songs to me
I dreamed I killed sweet William
And I kissed his cold white brow
I washed his body in the lake
And I sewed his eyelids down
Sing a song of sixpence
Battles in the past tense
Picked out by the snow
If I should find sweet William
Lying pale beneath the snow
I'll row out to the deepest depths
And let sweet William go
I'll watch him sink beneath the flood
And back to where he came
And pray to God and death and blood
I might forget his name
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