Flashback. Anno 2004.
Viene pubblicato in quello strano sottosuolo d’ombre e rugiada che risponde alla terra britannica questo “Mother’s Daughter And Other Songs”. Nessuna prima pagina, nessun word of mouth, se non qualche sporadica e timida recensione su qualche magazine di stampo underground.
Tutto ciò, se si pensa all’efferata prontezza dei media inglesi, abbozza già un piccolo caso. Uno strano caso? Strano si, ma non così insolito, dopotutto. Semmai spetta prender atto del fatto che, una volta inserito il suddetto cd nel nostro lettore, un sentimento agile più di qualsiasi moda ci percorra la schiena con dolcezza. E ritorni quell’atipico impulso chiamato incanto. Che vede nel suo avvio un soffice gorgheggio femminile che ha il compito di introdurre un arpeggio di chitarra e un elastico beat percussivo a dettarne il ritmo. Poco meno di due minuti come prefazione.
Poi, come dal niente, spunta una melodia vocale. E’ un attimo che ti suggerisce qualcosa, mai non sai che cosa. Passano una manciata di secondi e poi balzi sulla sedia. Inizi a zompettare per la tua stanza come un ossesso, ridacchiando sotto i baffi e sbraitando a voce non troppo sostenuta, come per non farsi sentire: “Beeeeta Band!!!”Si, perché questi Tunng, soprattutto ai primi ascolti, li ricordano parecchio. Nelle soluzioni vocali in primis, ma anche in quelle ingegnose combinazioni tra analogico e digitale. Li ricordano, e tanto, se pensate ai momenti in cui il gruppo scozzese, di recente congedatosi dalle scene, si dilettava a collegare certe limpide soluzioni folk a leggeri e trascinanti palpiti elettronici.
Solo, se nella Beta Band il tocco ritmico era, perlopiù, di palese derivazione hip-hop, qui ci troviamo, invece, di fronte a cadenze glitch, segno, quindi, di un’elettronica decisamente più recente ed evoluta. Le composizioni hanno un passo mediamente lento e sognante, le chitarre acustiche sempre in bell’evidenza, le voci quasi bisbigliate ed ipnotiche, ad inseguirsi l’un l’altra senza mai annoiare e, ogni tanto qua e là, morbide scie d’archi ad incorniciare il tutto. Si aggiunga a questo, una produzione eccellente, ordinata e brillante e degli ottimi arrangiamenti, che eludono l’effetto-noia in virtù di un equilibrio sempre presente e della pressoché totale assenza di prolissità.
Si comincia dall’opener “Mother’s Daughter”, ipnosi sotto effetto folk, per poi valicare sentieri acustico-digitali, vicini ai migliori Mùm in “Out Of The Window With The Window”, fino ad arrivare a quel magnifico gioiello che risponde al nome di “Tale From Black” e dove ci è concesso il lusso di riunire insieme Grateful Dead, Dentel, Beta Band, Arab Strap e Donovan in un colpo solo. Chapeau!
“Kinky Vans” e la splendida “Fairy Doreen” stanno solo a ribadire quanto già detto. E che, cioè, siamo di fronte ad un disco di una bellezza e accuratezza parecchio singolare, specie se si parla di un esordio.
Insomma, un sogno ad occhi aperti. E poco meno di quaranta minuti. Si e no, il tempo che ho dovuto pazientare stamattina, subito dopo il primo chiarore, a capire che sarebbe stata una bellissima giornata di sole.
Elenco tracce testi e video
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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