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Partiamo da questo presupposto: "Tiny Cities", secondo album del progetto Sun kil moon (dietro c'è l'americano Mark Kozelek) è probabilmente il lavoro più criticato di questo progetto, quello con minor forza emotiva.
L'album viene pubblicato nel 2005, a due anni di distanza dal debutto "Ghosts of the Great Highway" e fin dal giorno della sua uscita ha fatto molto discutere gli amanti di Kozelek. Molti, tanti, hanno visto in esso un lavoro scarno (il minutaggio si aggira intorno ai 30 minuti), ma soprattutto un disco privo di mordente, privo di quella carica nostalgica che invece era emersa prepotentemente con il disco d'esordio. Tutte critiche che si sono "scontrate" con i commenti positivi (la minoranza) rivolti a "Tiny Cities".
Così dopo aver ascoltato un paio di volte il disco in questione ho deciso di trattarlo, per far emergere un punto di vista positivo verso un album dalla maggioranza considerato invece negativo. In "Tiny Cities", troviamo Kozelek in grado di descriverci con la sua chitarra e la sua voce profonda, un universo di storie scritte da Isaac Brock, Eric Judy e Jeremiah Green, tre membri della band indie Modest Mouse, dalla quale Kozelek riprende alcune composizioni rivisitandole nel suo stile decadente. Tutte le tracce dell'album sono state riprese dai Modest Mouse e rielaborate da Kozelek, diventando così storie in musica, raccontate con maestria e leggerezza dalla voce del cantautore americano.
Tutte le critiche rivolte a quest'album, in particolare quelle riguardo la sua pochezza ci stanno appieno e sinceramente non si capisce il motivo del perchè di questa scelta, con canzoni brevi che finiscono con il passare "inosservate". Resta il fatto che per chi scrive "Tiny Cities" rappresenta un buon album di alt country, strettamente legato a Kozelek, sebbene le tracce non siano nate dalla sua mente. La chiave di volta della sua musica sta nel tocco "antico" che immette in ciò che suona, quella sensazione di una musica legata ad un altro tempo e in cui le voci tristezza e nostalgia si vanno ad incastonare a meraviglia. In questo senso mi viene da citare "Neverending math equation", che seppur si sviluppa su una base acustica e quasi "allegra" riesce a risultare oscura nel suo suono, nel suo incedere attraverso i vocalizzi di Kozelek. Lo stesso si può dire di "Grey ice water" e "Convenient parking". Accanto a queste buone visioni chitarristiche su cui si sovrappone la voce di Mark, ci sono però dei pezzi tralasciabili, che per fortuna scorrono via visto il breve minutaggio delle song.
Il risultato finale è un album in bilico tra una soluzione "sperimentale" e delle scelte francamente un po' incomprensibili che il buon Kozelek avrà fatto per le sue ragioni, ma che infieriscono su un giudizio complessivo che indirizza "Tiny Cities" verso una sufficienza, lontana dalle corde di uno dei più grandi cantautori degli ultimi decenni.
1. "Exit Does Not Exist" (1:24)
2. "Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes" (3:13)
3. "Neverending Math Equation" (2:53)
4. "Space Travel Is Boring" (3:42)
5. "Dramamine" (2:44)
6. "Jesus Christ Was An Only Child" (1:59)
7. "Four Fingered Fisherman" (2:41)
8. "Grey Ice Water" (2:32)
9. "Convenient Parking" (1:56)
10. "Trucker's Atlas" (2:49)
11. "Ocean Breathes Salty" (4:35)
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Tiny Cities Made of Ashes (03:13)
Were going down the road to tiny cities made of ashes
Im going to hit you on the face
Im going to punch you in your glasses, oh no
I just got a message that said
Yeah, hell has frozen over.
I got a phone call from the lord saying,
Hey boy, get a sweater, right now.
So were drinkin drinkin drinkin drinkin coca coca cola
I can feel it rolling right on down
Oh right on down my throat now
As were headed down the road towards tiny cities made of ashes
Im gonna get dressed up in plastic
Gonna shake hands with the masses, oh no!
Does anybody know a way that a body could get away?
Does anybody know a way?
Were going down the road to tiny cities made of ashes
Im going to hit you on the face
Im going to punch you in your glasses
Im wearing myself a t-shirt that says
The world is my ashtray
Our hearts pump dust and our hairs all grey
And I just got a message that said
Yeah, hell has frozen over.
I got a phone call from the lord saying,
Hey boy, get a sweater, right now!
Does anybody know a way that a body could get away?
Does anybody know a way?
Were drinkin drinkin drinkin drink coca coca cola
I can feel it rolling right on down
Oh right on down my throat
As were headed down the road towards tiny cities made of ashes
Im going to lay down (at the spa? ) where they coat you in molasses
Right now!
Does anybody know a way that a body could get away?
Does anybody know a way?
baculaat
05 Dramamine (02:44)
Traveling swallowing Dramamine
Feeling spaced breathing out Listerine
I'd said what I'd said that I'd tell ya
And that you'd killed the better part of me
If you could just milk it for everything
I've said what I'd said and you know what I mean
But I still can't focus on anything
We kiss on the mouth but still cough down our sleeves
Traveling swallowing Dramamine
Look at your face like you're killed in a dream
And you think you've figured out everything
I think I know my geography pretty damn well
You say what you need so you'll get more
If you could just milk it for everything
I've said what I said and you know what I mean
But I can't still focus on anything
08 Grey Ice Water (02:32)
You're standing by the grey ice water
Out in the wind above ground out in the weather
You had yourself a crazy lover
Becoming frozen trying hard to forget her
You got a job up in alaska
To save what the cannery pays
There ain't no way to spend it
On a boat, it's a fish trap
You took the path of least resistance
On the phone cutting out talking
Short to long distance
You're standing by the grey ice water
Out in the wind above ground out in the water
You had yourself a crazy lover
Become unfrozen trying hard to forget her
You got a job up in Alaska
To save what the cannery pays
There ain't no way to spend it
On the arctic blast
10 Trucker's Atlas (02:49)
I'm going to Colorado
to unload my head
I'm going to New York City
and that's in New York,friends
I'm going to Arizona
sex on the rocks all warm and red
and we bled
and the writing in stall said
"we write our maps in the stalls"
I'm going up to Alaska
I'm going to get off scot-fucking-free
and we all did
This truckers atlas roads the ways
the freeways and highways don't know
The buzz from the bird on my dash
Road locomotive phone
I don't feel and it feels great
I sold my atlas by the freight stairs
I do lines and I crossed roads
I crossed the lines of all the great state roads
I'm going up
going over to Montana
You got yourself a trucker's atlas
You knew you were all hot, well
Maybe you'll go and blow a gasket
Start at the northwest corner
Go down through California
beeline you might drive three days
and three nights to the tip of Florida
Do you speak the lingo?
Oh No. No no
How far does your road?
Oh no, you don't know
I'm going to Colorado
to unload my head
I'm going to New York City
and that's in New York, friends
I'm going up to Alaska
I'm going to get off scot-fucking-free
And we all did
And the writing in the salt syas
We ride on out to the stars
I'm going to Arizona
Sex on the rocks all warm and red
(c) baculaat-
Carico i commenti... con calma
