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Rating: Flashback. Year 2004.
In that strange underworld of shadows and dew answering to the British land, "Mother’s Daughter And Other Songs" was released. No front pages, no word of mouth, except for some sporadic and timid reviews in a few underground magazines.
All of this, considering the ruthless readiness of the English media, already hints at a small case. A strange case? Strange, yes, but not so unusual, after all. Perhaps it is necessary to acknowledge that, once the said CD is inserted into our player, a feeling more agile than any fashion gently runs down our spine. And that atypical impulse called enchantment returns. It begins with a soft female warble that introduces a guitar arpeggio and a flexible percussion beat setting the rhythm. A little less than two minutes as a preface.
Then, out of nowhere, emerges a vocal melody. It's a moment that suggests something to you, but you don't know what. A handful of seconds pass, and then you leap from your chair. You start hopping around your room like a madman, chuckling under your breath and shouting not too loudly, so as not to be heard: "Beeeeta Band!!!" Yes, because these Tunng, especially on first listens, remind you a lot of them. In the vocal solutions primarily, but also in those ingenious combinations between analog and digital. They remind you of them quite a bit if you think of the times when the Scottish group, recently retired from the scene, delighted in connecting clear folk solutions to light and captivating electronic pulses.
Only, where in Beta Band the rhythmic touch was mainly of apparent hip-hop derivation, here we are instead faced with glitch cadences, marking a more recent and evolved electronic scene. The compositions have a generally slow and dreamy pace, acoustic guitars always prominently featured, the voices almost whispered and hypnotic, chasing one another without ever boring, and occasionally, here and there, soft trails of strings framing the whole. Added to this is an excellent production, organized and bright, and great arrangements that avoid the boredom effect thanks to an ever-present balance and the near-total absence of verbosity.
It starts with the opener "Mother’s Daughter," hypnosis under a folk effect, then crosses acoustic-digital paths, close to the best Mùm in "Out Of The Window With The Window," until reaching that magnificent gem called "Tale From Black" where we have the luxury of reuniting Grateful Dead, Dentel, Beta Band, Arab Strap, and Donovan all at once. Chapeau!
“Kinky Vans” and the splendid “Fairy Doreen” only reaffirm what has already been said. And that is, we are faced with an album of quite singular beauty and accuracy, especially for a debut.
In short, a waking dream. Just under forty minutes. Yes and no, the time I had to wait this morning, just after the first light, to realize it was going to be a beautiful sunny day.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Mother's Daughter (03:23)
Young girl stuck to the water
Time will tell if you're your mother's daughter
Stone boat adrift on the ocean
Rows for the shore with the devil's devotion
Red girl picture was broken
Stand in the glass the angel's in motion
White swan watch with a wry smile
Raise up your wings for the wind and the last mile
Young girl stuck to the water
Time will tell if you're your mother's daughter
04 Beautiful and Light (03:58)
Katie feels a snap and switches off the tap
Walks out to fetch the shotgun from the shed
Feels just a little rush and climbs into the car
Slow down a moment
Drives out along the lane and calmly into town
Stops to let the music come around
Walks down to the bank and draws a quiet breath
Slow down a moment
Switch on, all's fine, burn out, on fire
Stitched tight, beautiful and light
Lights a cigarette, climbs the marble stairs
And waves the gun around
To paint a meaning
Money comes like rain
Feel this; easy feeling
She drives the car away
And laughs and smiles
Stops to count the notes out for a while
And when she's done, drives on
For a sunrise
05 Tale From Black (05:34)
She washes all the young blood from her hands in the sink
And she knows that the lights will be there for her
Breaks down the bodies to dark subtle ink
And she scrawls on the parchments that hang in the air
She rides a horse over stones in the night
And she closes her eyes and lets go of the reigns
She knows the radios run through the night
And she knows that the lights leave the prettiest stains
She builds a shrine and a typing machine
And she curls up to write down her tales from the black
Prays for a soft breeze and cool gentle rain
And she prays for the bodies that rise slowly back
She knows the dunes where the steel cities grow
And she knows when they jail her they'll grind down the key
She knows the lights lay the heaviest blows
And she knows that the sand must submit to the sea
She builds a bird out of plywood and gold
For to carry the old souls on up to the sun
Turns on the TV and sits in the cold
And she dreams that sometimes she's the prettiest one
She knows the thrill of the chase in her veins
And she knows that the sinking's a trick of the light
Prays for the silence and cool gentle rain
And she prays that the radios run through the night
06 Song of the Sea (03:53)
my old old transistor radio buzzing,
hot crazy island, dirty sheet dozen
i love the city,
but does she love me?
work for a paycheck,
that burns upon red day?
no sweeter evil would i wish on my way
bring me a song of the sea,
sing me a song of the sea,
hand me a song of the sea,
for me, oh
busy black roadway, light-scattered skyline,
no sweeter promise, smell of this high life,
[?]
a hill and a tree were
08 Fair Doreen (01:41)
Oh fair Doreen the night has seen
You ply your trade so sweet
And though they come your soul to stun
No anvil shall you be
No anvil shall you be Doreen
No anvil shall you be
Although they come your soul to stun
No anvil shall you be
Oh fair Doreen your treacled lips
That taste of other worlds
Though they may claim your soul be stained
Thou art not Satan's girl
Thou art not Satan's girl Doreen
Thou art not Satan's girl
Though they may claim your soul be stained
Thou art not Satan's girl
09 Code Breaker (03:07)
Like Watson and Crick
You seem to look
Into my soul
And though my DNA
Is too small for your scope
You make it much deeper
Hydrogen bursts
Inside a star
Don't mean a lot
From whereabouts we are
It's too far for your scope
But you make it much further
Code breaker
I've searched around
Here for the key
But I'm blind to it
And quantum theorists tell me
They've never seen the likes of your radar
Code breaker
10 Surprise Me 44 (05:08)
We'll come around when the sun falls down
We'll slow retreat from the soft wet heat
We'll amble down when it's all washed out
The burned up the sold up the fools and clowns
We'll say goodnight to the long day's sky
We'll give our souls up to old July
We'll watch the girl with the long soft sigh
You'll come alive with those late night eyes
And surprise me with everything you do
Untie me with everything you see
We'll weld a piece of the light inside
We'll snap the smiles as the black dogs die
We'll stick with Susie because she's got time
You'll show her how with those late night eyes
And surprise me with everything you do
Untie me with everything you see
Well the sun and the rain enters us hoping blind
That it's loud enough to see
And we all sing…
We'll light the fires when the sun winds down
Coil up retreat to the red white sound
We'll scramble down as they all rush out
The burned up the sold up the fools and clowns
Move through the molecules like you do
Let all the moments go down on you
We'll sleep tomorrow it's nice to do
We'll sleep tomorrow it's nice to do
And surprise me with everything you do
Untie me with everything you see
Well the sun and the rain enters my broken blind
And it's loud enough to see
And we all sing…
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