• Voto:
Con i grandi classici è facile, ti compri un “Blonde On Blonde” anni Sessanta e sai d’aver in mano un pezzo di storia e, subito dopo, eternamente impressa nella mente un’esperienza indimenticabile da un’artista così immenso…
Ma per chiunque, dal critico affermato al semplice affamato di novità, adesso nel 2006 sbilanciarsi su un album appena sfornato o è un modo per farsi sentire o è molto arduo… Per questo sfavillante debutto di band canadese c’è di sicuro da rimanere parecchio entusiasti…
Il loro mondo è quello del più obliquo e indipendente pop di inizio millennio ma “Return To The Sea” ha qualcosa in più delle altre band del genere (penso per dire agli 'Architecture In Helsinki'); l’impatto è di quelli che ti stendono, “Swans” la prima traccia che sfiora i dieci minuti, ha una leggerezza, una grazia che si insinua lentamente, prima con un delicato arpeggio, poi una melodia da una voce un pò strozzata in gola, da lacrime inghiottite, prima ti culla dolcemente e poi parte, diventa più penetrante, ti scuote, ti coinvolge, ti trasporta, poi si calma di nuovo, un piano cristallino accompagna una chitarra prima morbidamente elettrificata e che poi al settimo minuto si libera in una catarsi di emozioni fino a quel momento trattenute.. E’ forse il paradigma dell’album..
Siamo entrati nel loro mondo, un incanto dal quale è davvero impossibile uscire fino all’ultima nota perché le canzoni trattengono alta la carica emotiva e soprattutto la loro freschezza ha del meraviglioso. La loro si potrebbe dire una “semplicità complessa” che dà a tutto l’album come una strana e profonda ”fredda emozione” che trasforma piccole gemme pop, con tutti i loro richiami ad altre voci e suoni, in qualcosa di altro, di vicino ma allo stesso tempo lontano, nel tempo e nello spazio, inafferrabile..
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Swans (Life After Death) (09:31)
Swans
Swans
Swans sing songs
All night long
Who knew how warm the islands were
While the frogs look on
It's what the birds prefer
And it's still warm after the sun has gone
I woke up thirsty the day I died
And the tide was swirling
My mouth is so dry
And all I see is sea to shining seas
Swans
Swans
Swans sing songs
All night long
Who knew how warm the islands would be
And who knew just how much
The sky covers me
It makes you forget what it means to be free
I climbed into the blowhole
In the ribs I found you
With a wick we lit a flame
Now look at the smoke that it blew
The mouth is so wide
Yet all I see is sea
And azure sky
A little wave and ebb tide
Rivers leak
Salt seeps in
Heals wounds
Winds pry apart
Rivers leak
Salt seeps in
Heals wounds
Winds pry apart
Rivers leak
Salt seeps in
Heals wounds
Winds pry apart
Swans
Swans
Swans sung songs
Till the morning dawned on us
And the sun-smudged peach moon still hung loose
Bones
Bones
Bones
Groan
The sparrows in the trees we leave them for
They love the marrow
I'm thankful for my life
I'm thankful for my life
02 Humans (04:58)
Love bird, you flew into my window
Now in the sticky love nest sits a widow
The tree it fell on all the people
Gathered there to watch it topple
Now turn around, it's burning down
The city we live in
Should we mobilize?
Take them by surprise?
Let them have their way with us?
Wounds be by old enemies
Broke my heart to see
Foundations ripped apart
And investments fade away
I guess we got off to a bad start
No oxygen
What is the outcome?
Hungry humans
We've got to enslave them
We'll burn those bridges
When we come to them
I'm not just their leader
I'm also one of them
The food supply has been depleted
The river's ran dry just when it was needed
The rats come out to take it over
Singing, squeaking, "We built this city"
It's hard to breathe
But we couldn't leave
Nowhere left to go
Almost everybody died
Drank the tears from those who cried
We shriveled from the sodium
And a map was found with an X on it
So we followed it there
And what did we find?
An underground design
As we entered in to our surprise
Oxygen
Rivers of playgrounds(?)
The ancients just stayed down
They never stopped moving
We stumbled towards them
But they locked all the barn doors
So we had to dig deeper
We had to dig deeper
And the deep was dark
I wanted to sleep forever
Wake up later, maybe never
We had to build a civilization
Let the planet focus on the planet's rotation
We tried, we tried
We really tried
But no one could do it
Happily(?) alive
Never learned how to survive
We were humans being useless
No oxygen
What is the outcome?
Hungry humans
We've got to enslave them
We'll burn those bridges
When we come to them
I'm not just their leader
I'm also one of them
We're freed into oblivion
No traces of civilized living eating the earth
We're fading to oblivion
No traces of civilized living eaten by earth
04 Rough Gem (03:36)
The world beat you for the something nice
You worked hard, died more
You mined what you died for
Diamonds di di di di di uh
You can whistle my name
It's the mines, in Africa
That are to blame
You can Scoop out my brain
Shape it into an ear and then tell me your pain
I've been awake from the first day
Stayed awake, stayed awake
The rabbit was a rooted in the whole moon
Longer, short road
Dig deep but don't dig too deep
When it's late you'll see the hole is empty and oh so deadly
They want me raw and smooth like glass
They want it fast but they don't want flaws
I'm a girl's best friend
Can you cut, I can cut, 'cause I'm a rough gem
Who lives in those lights in the distance?
Watered down, the rain will help you out
I had a dream, it was all a dream
But it was ruined by the sun shining in through me
06 Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone (03:56)
The morning I set sail on a whalebone
the gale. force winds made the sky grow
and I was far out in the ocean
when I cut the roof of my mouth on the potion
down down down went the femur
I let my backbone slide in the ether
laying low in a tropical hideout
if anyone finds out; I'll turn their lights out
subtitle: where there's a will there's a whalebone (way to go) you'll never know
I set sail that morning and I may not come back know lay low
in a hideout just to bust you- tropical
it's neurotic and exotic
with yet another broke down (bone) incidental
not accidental
when facts track the mental
even within movement they know, even with the solitary movement
words get arranged for maximum deployment
words mean will
where there's a whalebone then there's a
tale gone wrong
young gang on a boat
it's the same song
same quote
nature stretches it out note by note
It'S a new state, you don't know the nomenclature, the governor has status with
the cutting apparatus
and that is half the battle
they can't think of how to absorb us, they can't thing of how to solve me
let's see
a cancerous mix of young pirates for kicks- signed,
seated C.(L.)(T.)G.
in congealed blood
this is all on the surreal
don't appeal to the side where the law resides
after all that, it's a separatist homicide
rappers try to cultivate carbon monoxide
you tried to get entranced by the folks that try to get us by hap-happenstance.
busdriver: frame our press show with a whale sternum
and a dolphin femur, band breather lab tech with a solvent
in a broken beaker, yell in boom mics and moonlight as a coffin cleaner
then poolside I food fight with Hollywood anorexics
I'm in a crew of pallbearers and ambidextrous foosball players
we got pool hall flair, remove all layers of industry pretension
and augmented physical attributes
because I'm blanketed in nude doll hair
but with these styles we're shrewd on-air
so we've been annexed to an annexed isle
by the radio programmer, half - man reptile
that church of satin bible study tutor choir boy
prefers the works that are uninspired and coy
but uhh Driver's ploy is to show a lot of follow through
wearing a monocle coming out a fiery void
collecting style in rental late fees
they never return it after the test drive
infatuated by a robots breast size
we ain't entertained by balloon animals
marooned on our tropical safe haven
everyday is a paid vacation
In the evening I arrived on a wishbone
so I wished all the stars would go home
but one was a dog with its tail drawn
it wagged (laughed) as it shed, now its long gone
I remember the flavour
but I made a choice to stay here
laying low in a tropical hide-out
if anyone finds out, I'll turn their lights out
07 Jogging Gorgeous Summer (02:48)
Woke up with rain on my head
Can't drive off so what should I do instead?
Swim to the biggest flower there
To warm(?) you and kiss you, my love
So when the storm clouds dissolved into thin air
Like when my hands got lost in your thick hair
The dogs barked long days, not dark
The sky's blue so what should we do?
We can do anything we want to
Millions of sunsets, but the one I'll remember
The one where you told me you'd love me forever
Took a long walk into the woods
Climbed in the world's biggest tree
And then they tried to cut it down
But we didn't make a sound
The sun blinded them
They couldn't see
Woke up next to you in your bed
Another day to do it all again
Creeped out into the sun
Another day to give you all my love
Millions of sunsets but the one I'll remember
Millions of sunsets but the one I'll remember
Millions of sunsets but the one I'll remember
Is the one where you told me you'd love me forever
08 Volcanoes (05:26)
In trouble with the dogs
Yapping like the trogs on that tape
Getting stepped on like a baby
Maybe slept too long
Is that so wrong?
So at sunrise we moved on
At lunch the storm had gone away
I didn't swim
But I watched the waves
While others stayed
under for over an hour
While lovers hovered around the towel
We washed our mouths at the riverbed
When we noticed something glowing
It was growing
Things are going to change
Hot rainfalls made of magma
melts Alaska
And in icy Argentine they say now I've seen it all
Who knew? Volcanoes!
In trouble with the gods
We didn't always misbehave
Where the sun shone, now it's gone
We've been waiting for so long
Now it's on.
Not that we would do ourselves in
Funny how things work out in the end
I never learned to swim
Now I'm wasted, I'm too old
Just hold on for as long as you can
I'm so afraid to die
We washed our mouths at the riverbed
When we noticed something glowing
It was growing
Things are going to change
Hot rainfalls made of magma
melts Alaska
And in icy Argentine they say now I've seen it all
Who knew? Volcanoes!
The frogs, the frogs got it first
And the birds all knew it too
The worst was the worse smell on earth
Silver and snow
Silver and snow
Don't breathe
Don't breathe
Don't breathe
Don't breathe
We washed our mouths at the riverbed
When we noticed something glowing
It was growing
Things are going to change
Hot rainfalls made of magma
melts Alaska
And in icy Argentine they say
now I've seen it all
Who knew? Volcanoes!
Who knew? Volcanoes!
10 Ones (05:40)
In my mouth, my eyes, my ears, my nose, oh oh
Then my limbs are free like trees, let leaves leave, leave, leave
Blue, can't move my head, my head, my head, go home, go home
My legs can't stand, anymore
With wings, things would be far, even if they were near
Here in my head
Close my eyes and see ones / Here in my head
Close my eyes and see ones / Here in my head
Some voice said stand 'cause you can
And that's all that you have
You're not in this alone
We all live in awkward little homes(holes?)
We all live in our heads, our legs, our toes, our eyes, our throats, homes
11 Bucky Little Wing (09:38)
Passed him by a long time ago
But didn’t stop to pick him up that day even though he was late
We drove by
A year later my family moved, he moved to the same town far away
We became friends, smoked cigs, played ball together in all kinds of weather
We worked on our jump shot
Bucky little wing, you flew away
His name was Charles, he was my friend
We got along, but in the end
Bucky little wing, you flew away
It was tough being weak, while Bucky was strong
His daddy died in a car wreck
And I got sick of being pushed around
Standing my ground when Bucky had my back
Hiding in a bush and it’s okay
We started rolling with a different crew
Before I knew it we drifted to
Bucky little wing you flew away
Once some racist kids, this is what I heard, pushed him underneath a moving truck
It swerved but got his head on accident
They ran like devils in the night
Word was he died. I didn’t cry but oh, oh how I tried
Monday came and he did too, so he didn’t die
Just some violet bruises and one shut eye
Can’t believe that he survived, he was like a ghost after that day
But he was just so mighty you might say
His name was Charles, he was my friend
We got along but in the end
Bucky little wing you flew away
Bucky little wing you flew away
Carico i commenti... con calma
