Avvicinate l'orecchio che vi sussurro uno dei segreti indie-pop meglio custoditi del 2006: zitti zitti i "The Format" hanno tirato fuori uno dei migliori dischi dell'anno!
Con diversi EP all'attivo ed un altro album non male ("Interventions + Lullabies" del 2003), questo "duo allargato ad altri elementi" fondato da Nate Ruess e Sam Means dall'Arizona dimostra che è ancora possibile fare musica varia, appassionante, suonata benissimo e ancora meglio arrangiata senza scadere nell'autoreferenzialità e nella posa indie. E dimostra pure che si possa aprire un disco con 5 pezzi uno meglio dell'altro! Organetto e flauto su una dolcissima melodia circense ("Matches") ci introducono ad una cinquantina buoni di minuti di musica fatta col cuore che parla o dovrebbe parlare di relazioni che finiscono prima di iniziare, con brani che riescono a procurarci non pochi "sbattimenti di mani dicendo yeah". Salta subito all'orecchio la caratura del gruppo che dimostra come si debba costruire un pezzo mettendoci dentro di tutto, ma lasciandolo perfettamente fruibile, stupendoci a piè sospinto.
Come fare a resistere a "I'm Actual", che parte in un modo malinconico e diviene un delirio circense da ballare con la propria bella? Tanta è la carne al fuoco che viene voglia di fare un track-by-track solo per rendere giustizia a queste composizioni. Ascrivete alla voce "imprescindibili" perciò i pezzi "Time Bomb", "She Doesn't Get It", "Pick Me Up" che hanno in comune il fatto che vi faranno sbatacchiare un bel po' essendo ultra ballabili, con richiami dance wave anni'80 che ci stanno sempre bene. In particolare "She Doesn't Get It" può fregiarsi della palma di "singolo perfetto": tempo molto up, arpeggio di chitarre in apertura, crescendo della melodia, ritornello da cantare a squarciagola, bridge con campane che è ancora meglio del ritornello e voi che non riuscite a stare fermi! E poi accade l'imprevedibile… "siore e siori benvenuti a Broadway"! "Dog Problems" è puro musical, con l'andamento cadenzato e i fiati a tener su la melodia. Ti aspetteresti l'entrata di Liza Minelli da un momento all'altro. Se state storcendo il naso sappiate che in questo stesso pezzo riescono a piazzare una parte orchestrale, sostenuta dagli archi, che è talmente malinconica che pare un cielo che si apre dopo un temporale. Spettacolo!
Poi il disco perde un po' il tiro, presentando pezzi tutto sommato normali rispetto a quanto sentito finora, ma sempre sopra la media, pezzi buoni per le college radio, per intenderci. Si riprende quota con "The Compromise", che sostanzialmente è un rock'n'roll vecchia maniera, ma suonato col piglio moderno. Bella pure "Inches And Falling", che richiama tanto i Queen dei primi dischi, e che si apre con una dichiarazione che è tutta un programma "I love love / I love to be in love / I don't care what it does to me". Chiude il disco "If Work Permits" che sembra una ballata classica, ma che ad un certo punto ed in maniera del tutto inaspettata esplode in un pezzo punk: evidentemente c'è chi ama non farsi mancare nulla.
Vediamo di trarre le somme: su 12 brani ne abbiamo 5 spettacolari, 3 buoni e 4 nella norma. Il fatto è che i pezzi buoni sono talmente buoni da fare allontanare lo spettro dell'occasione mancata, annientando quelli così così. Se fosse stato un EP sarebbe stato favoloso, ma come disco vale un 4 pieno, con dei bei 7 (il 5 gli sta proprio stretto) appiccicati ai pezzi summenzionati.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Matches (02:10)
Ashes to ashes
Some dust on the dash
I've got my cigarettes
but I can't find the fire
that's calming me down
I was just out on a night with my friends
You are still out on a night
with your friends
and you don't seem to tire
when I'm not around
I'm under the tunnel
I'm holding my breath
I searched every pocket
that hung in the colest
'til I found some matches
in a brown leather jacket
One I swore I've never worn
but it once kept you warm
Do you remember
we made love on the floor
and you still haven't called
So I'll wait 'til they're closing the bars
I made a wish
but the match never lit
02 I'm Actual (03:47)
Can we take the next hour
and talk about me
Talk about me, and we'll talk about me
Talk about me, and we'll only talk about me
Can we please take this hour
and talk about me
and my hatred for corporate magazines
you know they don't speak to me
The irony is they won't speak with me
I placed you on a windowsill
Cut notches up and down the dorr
My surprise, I woke up one morn
In our bed
In your place
Lay a note
It read:
Baby your love
it just ain't good enough
I found sunlight six hours away
You watered me down 'til I drifted abound
Somewhere far from your shade
Now I shadow my former self
Once holy,now lonely
A chest full of holes
Red was, it paints me unclear
when the big hand strikes twelve
I disappear
and the angels are fake
They'll lie to your face
Anything to keep you away
You watered me down 'til
I drifted abound
It's time I accept the fact
that you on your back
It has buried the past
03 Time Bomb (04:01)
Oh no, was it worth it?
Starting now I'm starting over
I'm gonna sleep
with the next person I meet
Starting now I'm starting over
You swore "together forever"
Now you're telling me lies
Tell me your words have got
no concept of time
Tick tock, you're not a clock
You're a time bomb baby
Oh no, was it worth it?
Was it worth what you did to big business?
Was it worth what your friends
put up their noses?
Starting now I'm starting over
Tell the new wave kids their make-up kits
can find me where self pity gets
a breath of fresh air
Tick tock, you're not a clock
You're a time bomb baby
You set the watch
You're just in time
to wreck my life
to bring back what I left behind
Five years and you fell for a waiter
I'm sure he says he's an actor
So you're acting like
you never tried to take your life
So starting now I'm starting over
I'm throwing bottles
I'm taking showers
I'm going to sleep
Starting now I'm starting over (stop it)
Starting now I'm starting over (stop it)
To play the game
Get even
Act my age
Oh no was it worth what you
did to your wrists?
04 She Doesn't Get It (03:51)
All the girls pose the same for pictures
All the boys have the same girl's hair.
And I am bored because I feel much older,
Look at me as if I got a reason to stare.
But you talk so loud, that it calms me down.
You're crying, let's make a toast.
She says she's leavin on a Sunday,
That leaves me one more night.
Can I take you home?
I know it's wrong, but I know your type.
She says she's leavin on a Sunday,
I don't care I need to know where to turn.
I tried it once it never caught on,
I was the only one who got burned.
I've read every word you've said,
From a poster of a cat.
Four books look across your sofa,
I thought your coffee table was more clever than that.
It gets worse once we get to her room she stops and she sings "do do do do do do do do"
I claim "New Religion" is my song,
She doesn't get it,
It's all before she's born.
And you lock your door,
Like I've been here before.
I feel like I've seen a ghost.
She says she's leavin on a Sunday,
That leaves me one more night.
Can I take you home?
I know it's wrong, but I know your type.
She says she's leavin on a Sunday,
I don't care I need to know where to turn.
I tried it once it never caught on,
I was the only one who got burned.
I was the only one who got burned.
Suddenly between sheets and eyelids, I am reminded why I don't do this.
I fall in love far too quickly,
I never want her to forget me.
When you're gone,
Will you call?
Will you write?
She says she's leavin on a Sunday,
That leaves me one more night.
Can I take you home?
I know it's wrong, but I know your type.
She says she's leavin on a Sunday,
That leaves me one more night.
Can I take you home?
I know it's wrong, but I know your type.
She says she's leavin on a Sunday,
I don't care I need to know where to turn.
I tried it once it never caught on,
I was the only one who got burned.
I was the only one who got burned.
I was the only one who got burned.
I was the only one who got burned.
05 Pick Me Up (03:46)
And you
You're gonna walk backwards
through the room
Does that mean I won't see you?
It means you walk backwards
through the room
Tiffany's crying
She's dying to make it out of this hell
I just laught
'Cause it was my job to be her help
but I'm in my bedroom
Where friends won't debate my health
like"how can he save some summer night,
when he can't save himself"
You've got to pick me up
C'mon and pick me up
when I'm falling down
You've got to pick me up
Cut to December
How can a scalpel tear into skin
revealing walks in the park
Lord how can a heart
come from two separate organs
and you're gonna make this simple
Do you want to make me sweeter?
I know, I know, I know, I know
I'll let you down
I'll let you down
Prescriptions scripting a timeline
Swing sets, grade schools, and black eyes
First love, heartbreak, and true love
Mistakes, heartbreak, and true love
06 Dog Problems (04:11)
Don't you dare
Speak for someone you don't know
They'll feel it in the back of their throat
We know I cant construct a poem
'Cause words like girls get bored and run
c'est la vie
I say "I've got so many better things"
I've got nothing
you should see me
I smoke myself to sleep
And blame postmodern things I cant relate
Like summer camp and coastal states
Like alcohol and coffee beans
Dance floors and magazines
I think its safe to say I've only got
myself to blame
But boys in swooping haircuts
are bringing me down
Taking pictures of themselves
oh no
“Boys in swooping haircuts you know who you are”
And so I walk the web in search of love
But always seem to end up stuck
I'm finding flaws in everyone.
I've reached the point where all I want
Is to sleep around in hopes that I will catch back up
We are parallel lines
We’re running in circles
We're never meant to cross
I'm at a loss
You were my tangerine
My pussycat, my trampoline
Now all's I get are wincing cheeks
And dog problems
I signed a lease
Thinking my heart belonged
at 93rd and park
Instead I broke a girls heart
And flew back to Phoenix
to finish the year as it started
Can you hear me?
Are you listening?
This is the sound of my heart breaking
And I hope it's entertaining
Cause for me
it's a bitch
Was it worth it
When you slept with him?
Did you get it all
out of your system?
I am a man
Holding it all
I couldn’t breathe
Coming across
I didn’t know
I couldn’t get up
B is for believing you'd always be here for me
E is for everything, even when we'd see it though
C, C is for seeing through you, you are a fake, which brings me to...
A because, because, you always run away
I never finish phrases I misspell
An open arm's a prison cell
When I said, "I hate what I've become"
I lied, I hated who I was
So when you start to wonder
about the pain in my throat,
Then don't you ever, no never ever
Speak for someone
You
don't
know
07 Oceans (04:48)
Aw you've got flaws
That you won't admit
Yet you tell me it's a sin
that I don't believe in...
Yet you traded in your cross
for a chance to dance with stars
Now nothing is sacred
I've given thought to leaving
f-f-f-for sometime
If only I could read a map
My moat is New Mexico
so it's you I wrote
I starting sending you a note
Oh how I hope that you're happy
I hear you're somewhere in the sand
and how I wish I was an ocean
Maybe then,
I'd get to see you again
And all my friends
They break and they bend
They take shape and they tend
to get better with time
and I say
"Who am I to work so much less
You get more
You all deserve what I am walking towards
If you want you should move away"
This has become a weakness
The golden state wins again
Perhaps its time I settle
Say "it's blue
At least that's a plus"
plus
I miss you so much
I starting sending you a note
Oh how I hope that you're happy
I hear you're somewhere in the sand
and how I wish I was an ocean
Maybe then,
I'd get to see you again
Why am I scared of people in a room?
Why can't they see a good time
are the people close to you?
Why don't I just give in?
Have a drink and shake some hands
Oh ey oh
Oh ey oh
Why am I scarred from what she did to me?
Why can't I trust anyone?
No, not even me
Why don't I just give in?
Have a drink and shake some hands
Oh ey oh
Oh ey oh
I've given thought to leaving
f-f-f-for sometime
Maybe it's time I put a profile up
of who I want to be
Fool everyone
I could start over clean
I could hide behind a big blue screen
or you could return to me
Return to me
Oh how I hope that you're happy
I hear you're somewhere in the sand
and how I wish I was an ocean
Oh no
how I hope that you're happy
I hear you're somewhere in the sand
you know I wish I was an ocean
Maybe then,
I'd get to see you again
I'd get to see you again..
08 Dead End (04:08)
Hold on, there's a hole in my heart
everyone can see right through me
it goes all the way to the waves
where my love she tried to wash it away
see we break for the summers
so she can find lovers
she treats them like a bottle of wine
they make you dinner
and they sing you to sleep
but by the morning find the bottle is empty
'cause she never gives it the time
every bottle she finds
they don't compare
to the ones she left behind
there is never a note
so she waits for me to come back home
I'm looking for a dead end song
you wish that smoke
could change its color
I love it when you talk so much
and act like nothing went wrong
I'm looking for a dead end song
while we sit and find flaws in everyone
I want to keep you by my side
holding off tidal waves
"mint car" is keeping us warm
she lays crossed upon the bed
we are puzzles making shapes
with our hands
I take my finger, turn into a pen
then i run my hand down your spine
you guess i wrote something profound
something like:
"our love will last 'til we die"
I say "you're good at this game"
but what I really wrote is
"how I've yet to be saved"
09 Snails (04:09)
Nico, take it slow
Show me that you care
And love's not just a flare on my sleeve
Sleep well, I pray that cardboard boxes,
Set the perfect stage.
'Cause wood grain makes all man made things seem so out of date
Life is not a play, it's what we
Make of the people we love.
Snails see the benefits
The beauty in every inch
Oh why, why, why, why, oh, why
Are you quick to kiss?
She bites at blades and leaves
God damn you shrubbery
Well I’m sick of vanity plays
Should we move to the UK?
'Cause life here in the states has escaped
All the people above us.
What we make of those people we love
(Chorus)
Snails see the benefits
The beauty in every inch
Oh why, why, why, why, why
Are you quick to kiss?
Baby, maybe I spoke too soon
I’ll touch you once you make the first move
Snails see the benefits
The beauty in every inch
I watch her as she runs
My mother jumps the gun
She puts her in her arms
That is just like my mom
Never lets go, never lets me grow old
I wanna pay her back
But love is nothing you can tax
My family’s not rich by any means
But I feel we won the lottery, that day
The rock swallowed the girl
And I cried as cameras caught my eyes
My tears turned into butterflies
They fly away as caskets close
A new day comes you’ll wake unfold
Smile when you feel the sunlight
You feel the sunlight
You feel the sunlight
You feel the sunlight
(Chorus)
Snails see the benefits
The beauty in every inch
Oh why, why, why, why, why
Are you quick to kiss?
Baby, maybe I spoke too soon
I’ll touch you once you make the first move
Snails see the benefits
The beauty in every inch, oh
Snails see the benefits
The beauty in every inch
10 The Compromise (03:27)
You
You think it's cool to be crazy
I say you're born rich
Stay rich
There's no point in taking chances
And me
I wouldn't call it a sophomore slump
I'd say I'm one step closer to being just
Where I want
To be
Away from this scene
Away from this machine
Meet me in the middle
C'mon let's make up a dance
We'll agree to call it The Compromise
Step one:
Find a partner
Grab a pen
Don't you dare ask questions
Just sign on the dotted line
Step two:
Throw your partner behind a desk
Where they'll do absolutely nothing
So it's your job to dance and smile
The whole time
Don't call it a trend
It's the only way we think to get ahead
Meet me in the middle
C'mon let's make up a dance
We'll agree to call it The Compromise
There's no sense in complaining
It doesn't change our mind
Take me by the hand
Let's Compromise
I can feel your feet touching mine
If you can't dance
There's someone else in line
11 Inches and Falling (03:30)
I love Love
I love being in love
I don't care what it does to me
Take these tattered boxes
that used to hold your clothes
Break them down
Build them back up with your bones
All you did was construct a mess
You're good to me when only flesh
You're a memory with nothing to show
When we would take trips
We swore we'd never take pictures
Pictures only prove you can't convince
Now i wish those photographs
could convince you that what we had
would only turn out a negative
well
well
well
If fingertips are relationships
then i could barely carry your weight
If fingers are mistakes
Don't use this one to point the blame
Just sing
sing
I love love
I love being in love
I don't care what it does to me
These pills are fine to pass the time
'til i find my new drug
Then
We'll take our chances
we'll last a month
we'll never speak again
How i love being in love
And don't pick up the line
You'er dressed to have a good time
you don't need him, you need to be seen
so someone else can treat you wrong
so you my love can sing this song
I love love
I love being in love
I don't care what it does to me
These pills are fine to pass the time
'til i find my new drug
Then
They'll take advantage
I'll claim that's what i want
To be the new statistic
How i love
How i love
How i love being in love
Take these tattered boxes
That used to hold your clothes
Break them down
Build them back up with your bones
All you did was construct a mess
you'er dead to me if love is death
You'er a memory with nothing to show
well
well
well
If fingertips are relationships
Then maybe i could use a break
She smiles
She points at me
shes says:
Baby i love how you sing
so just
sing
I love love
i love being in love
i don't care what it does to me
These pills are fine to pass the time
'til i find my new drug
Then
We'll take our chances
we'll rise above
we'll last until the end
How i love
How i love
How i love being in love
12 If Work Permits (05:28)
So the wind that blows across your room
carried cheap perfume onto your dresser
it rained for jewelry and for credit cards
two tickets to a film i dont remember
one day youll kiss your rabbits nose, pick up the phone
to find ive been turned over
and youll grab that piece of gold
only to find that the smell has taken over
now all the things you had, they arent the same...
as what you hold
im standing in a room,
its filled with older folks pleading "baby listen"
and i scream as loud as anyone,
but when asked to make a point i tend to whisper
now highways turn to tidal waves
theyre asking me to export all of your insecurities
but that wind that blows across your room
its gonna set the sails, and send me back to you
sometimes, when sailors are sailing
they think twice, about where theyre anchoring
and i think, i could make better time of my time on land
ill drink less
cause lord knows i could use a warm kiss
instead of a cold goodbye
im writing the folks back home to tell them
"hey im doing alright"
its a shame what your father did to your brothers head
he smashed it with a telephone
and your mother got scared and locked the door
you were only four, but lord you remember it
so now youre scared of love
im here to tell you loves not some blood on the reciever
love is speaking in code
its an inside joke
love is coming home
sometimes, when sailors are sailing
they think twice, about where theyre anchoring
and i think, i could make better time of my time on land
ill drink less
cause lord knows i could use a warm kiss
instead of a cold goodbye
im writing the folks back home to tell them
"hey im doing alright"
yeah im doing just fine
and if she seems as lonely as me.....
let her sink.
let her sink.
let her
Carico i commenti... con calma
