A través de las lentes de ojo de pez de
unos ojos bañados en lágrimas,
Apenas puedo definir la forma
de este momento en el tiempo,
Y lejos de volar alto en cielos claros y azules
Estoy descendiendo en espiral al agujero en el suelo donde me escondo...
Y si yo te muestro mi lado oscuro
¿Me abrazarás esta noche todavía?
Y si te abro mi corazón
Y te enseño mi lado débil...
¿Qué harías tú?
1. Eve Of The Assault / Merryland (6:52) 2. The Acrobat Between The Stars (6:15) 3. Palce Of King Ferris (3:32) 4. Tyrangatang (4:59) 5. Dance Of The Tarantella (3:40) 6. Tournament Of Love (4:29) 7. March Of The Squatamaudars (2:41) 8. A Day Without Light (4:57) 9. The Wonderful Sunshiner / Grand Finale (5:31) 10. Tyrangatang (1994 remix) (4:58)
Total Time: 47:54
Musicians
- Rick Bess / guitars, bass, music - Blair Blake / hammond organ, grand piano, mini moog synthesizer, moog taurus bass pedals, arp string ensemble, celeste, lyrics - Dave Kelly / drums, typani, orchestra bells, gongs, triangles, gyro - Mark Biehl / vocalist, flute, trumpet, piccolo
At the top of the stairs, There's hundreds of people, Running around to all the doors. They try to find, find themselves an audience; Their deductions need applause.
The rich man stands in front of me, The poor man behind my back. They believe they can control the game, But the juggler holds another pack.
I need someone to believe in, someone to trust. I need someone to believe in, someone to trust.
I'd rather trust a countryman than a townman, You can judge by his eyes, Take a look if you can, He'll smile through his guard, Survival trains hard. I'd rather trust a man who Works with his hands, He looks at you once, You know he understands, Don't need any shield, When you're out in the field.
But down here, I'm so alone with my fear, With everything that I hear. And every single door, that I've walked through Brings me back, back here again, I've got to find my own way.
The priest and the magician, Singing all the chants that they have ever heard; And they're all calling out my name, Even academics, searching printed word. My father to the left of me, My mother to the right, Like everyone else they're pointing, But nowhere feels quite right. And I need someone to believe in, someone to trust I need someone to believe in, someone to trust.
I'd rather trust a man who doesn't shout what he's found, There's no need to sell if You're homeward bound. If I choose a side, He won't take me for a ride.
Back inside This chamber of so many doors, I've nowhere, nowhere to hide. I'd give you all of my dreams, if you'd help me, Find a door That doesn't lead me back again take me away.
When Drakkar Nowhere rows itself out toward the exploratory sonic sea
upon which their debut album so gracefully sails, it’s not just that
their destination is undefined; it’s that the very concept of a
destination, as reflected in their music, is itself something
indefinable. Drakkar Nowhere capture the wind in their sails with a
sound that’s boundless, expansive and, perhaps, guided only by the light
of the sun and stars.
That Drakkar Nowhere ended up somewhere at all is itself more a result
of circumstance than careful course-charting. The history of the album
traces back to the summer of 2012, when Daniel Collás (Phenomenal
Handclap Band) and Morgan Phalen (Favored Nations, Diamond Nights) found
themselves creating new music in the kitchen of a rented apartment in
Stockholm, Sweden. Their new project caught the ears of nearby
musicians, including members of Dungen and The Amazing, and before long,
this extended family of international musicians were recording the
songs that would firmly put them on the path to nowhere – Drakkar
Nowhere, that is.
Both Collás and Phalen took inspiration from their Swedish surroundings –
in particular, the enchanted forests that surround the neighborhoods of
Bagarmossen and Midsommarkransen. And given the talents and histories
of the collaborating musicians, it’s no surprise that the ever-evolving
shadow of what we might broadly call Swedish psychedelia should perfume
the proceedings as well. Collás and Phelan also took the recordings to
New York and Los Angeles, where new surroundings and influences could
intertwine into the musical flora and fauna. When in LA, the band even
got a hero of theirs, unsung 70s singer-songwriter Ned Doheny, on board
for “Higher Now.” Some light was recently shed on Doheny’s music from
the 70s when Numero Group released the Doheny compilation Separate
Oceans a couple years back. To those who have discovered his fantastic
body of work, his warm, breezy Malibu vocals are instantly recognizable
on “Higher Now.”
One thing is surprising – and what makes the Drakkar Nowhere album one
that benefits from repeat listens – is how unobtrusive all of these
influences are on the album’s ultimate sound. Drakkar Nowhere present a
combination of influences – cosmic jazz, syrupy soul and mutated prog
among them – in such an effortless manner that they don’t really feel
like “influences” at all. As a result, Drakkar Nowhere have built an
album that may have listeners ears recalling the crystalline harmonies
of the Brothers Gibb more often than it does Träd, Gräs and Stenar.
No destination, no influences – just nowhere. And in the hands of Drakkar Nowhere, it’s clearly the place to be. – Ryan Muldoon.
For the present year 2010, especially the latter half, Argentina has been a gentle provider of
great progressive music from outside the European and North American realms, and this
post-rock duo Autumn Moonlight is no exception at all.
AM's debut album has a pre-historic
phase of digital free downloading in 2009 before its official 2010 release: re-recording,
refurbishment and slight modifications in the tracklist determine the reality of "The Sky Over
Your Shoulders" as the world is supposed to know it.
After listening to this album, even if
it's only once, the listener has to ponder and admire the amazing fact that the rhythmic
schemes, orchestral additions, instrumental nuances and varied textures that stand
beyond the guitar/bass guitar inputs have been created via computer tools and programs.
And I'm not saying this as praise for the use of technology in itself but for the use of
technology with such musical depth and such artistic cleverness.
Well, the result is a vividly
embellished sort of post-rock that is patently melodically driven as well as friendly with
some specific patterns of structural pomposity that we usually find connected to the
symphonic prog standard.
Few times like this we find the post-rock pattern so closely
related to the progressive formalities.
Now it's time to focus on the tracklist itself. 'Autumn
Moonlight' gets things started in a most stylish fashion, due to its pristine architecture of
guitar chords and the rhythm duo's controlled dynamics:
while bearing a dominantly
reflective mood, the melodic scheme and the vivid instrumentation bring out a distinctly
optimistic vibe.
The noise of sea waves in the shore paves the way for the second
track, 'Dawn Of Atlantis', whose initial piano motif announces yet another delivery of
crystalline atmospheres and elegantly driven electricity.
The recurrent 7/8 tempo mandates
an effective musical intelligence for the ongoing sense of warmth: this track encapsulates
what I earlier tried to describe as "symphonic-oriented post-rock".
The predominant lyricism
continues to assert itself for track # 3, 'Letters To God', and not only that, it also becomes
increasingly epic: at this point, the band's framework draws a bit closer to the power-ballad
standard that one can expect from a regular prog metal album.
Once the main body's has
been emphasized enough, the basic sonority becomes calmer, which makes the whole
thing turn more ceremonious and introverted.
Now that I casually mentioned the prog-metal
thing, it is fair to say that 'The Outsider' is the track that works on this area more
meticulously: there are also hints to space-rock in its development, but the ballsy nature of
the main riffs and the well-constructed guitar solo leaves no room for confusion regarding
the presence of prog-metal as the central ingredient for this specific track.
Between these
two pieces, 'T.O.R.' delivers a sort of midway between the introspective languidness of the
second half of 'Letters To God' and the opener's colorful lyricism. 'Lost Paradise' is
another example of AM's introspective side, but this time there is nothing about that can
properly be described as languid:
there is an explicit sense of energy and power that is
inevitably instilled in this track's compositional framework, and so the namesake piece is
ready to enter and settle a typical post-rock atmosphere, eerie and subtly adorned. Well, the
album's last 5 minutes are occupied by 'Autumn Moonlight Part II', which deepens the
introspective side that had been reinforced throughout the previous two pieces in order to
generate an amazing crescendo and a subsequent epic climax. This display of bombastic
exquisiteness is followed by a lovely coda that features soft piano and bass guitar
interplaying.
"The Sky Over Your Shoulders" is, first and most of all, a beautiful piece of
artistic rock, and as such, it must serve as a motivator for all prog collectors everywhere to
pay due attention to Autumn Moonlight.
