• Voto:
Provo una sensazione incredibilmente felice quando decido di acquistare un cd sperando che mi soddisfi, e scopro che in realtà è dieci volte meglio di quello che mi aspettavo. Silent Shout ne è un esempio.
Se cercate qualcosa legato al nuovo movimento rock (Arctic monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, e chi più ne ha più ne metta), o se vorreste cullare i vostri dolori in dolci canzoni d’amore, avete da guardare altrove. Perché qui troverete solo pura e antica elettronica, da quella dei Krafwerk, passando per i Moloko di Statues, fino a quella che accompagnava i videogiochi degli anni ’80. (“Machine music is good!” affermano).
Le melodie orecchiabili sono proprio poche, ma quello che le rende superbe è la bellissima voce della cantante, il cui accento svedese le dona un fascino tutto particolare. Lei è Karin Dreijer Andersson (già interprete di What Else Is There? dei Royksöpp), mentre l’altro saltuario cantante è suo fratello Olof Dreijer.
Questo duo è nato a Stoccolma nel 1999, anno in cui la loro intraprendenza e il loro essere fuori dalle logiche del mercato li hanno portati a fondare la loro stessa etichetta discografica, la Rabid Records (che sta pubblicando tral’altro Jenny Wilson). Non fanno niente a metà, e non fanno niente due volte. Il compromesso è il loro nemico, la ripetizione è sbagliata.
Il loro cd è molto strumentale, con larghe introduzioni non cantate per la maggior parte delle canzoni, il ché le rende a volte lunghe. Si passa da quelle più lente, con voci gravi e intense, a quelle più ritmate, che ricordano le luci stroboscopiche della discoteca, si viaggia dalle atmosfere cinesi ai cori a capella, ma in ogni caso non si riesce a trattenere il corpo dal muoversi a ritmo. I testi sono criptici e le voci spesso distorte, computerizzate, sintetizzate; l’album è eclettico, sprizzante di energia, quasi aggressivo ma non arrogante.
Sicuramente particolare, egocentrico, sconcertante, surrealista, strano, come lo sono i due fratelli svedesi: a loro piace molto stare nascosti e passare periodi di magnifico isolamento. Adorano i video, perché ritenuti un’estensione della loro musica (il ché li ha portati a girare il cortometraggio When I Found The Knife), ma odiano fare servizi fotografici perché dicono non centrino niente con la musica, ma quando sono costretti a posare lo fanno travestendosi da quello che secondo loro sarebbero le loro opere se avessero un’immagine definita. Così una volta li ritroviamo ginnasti e la volta dopo corvi con becchi, giacconi e parrucche nere. Infatti descrivono la loro musica occulta e buia ma allo stesso tempo divertente. Ed io non riuscirei a descriverla con parole più appropriate…
I singoli tratti dall’album sono Silent Shout e Marble House, le canzoni più belle ma soprattutto più “commerciali”, se così si può dire. Il titolo della prima sta ad indicare il classico incubo in cui vorresti gridare qualcosa, ma non ti esce suono dalla bocca ("Yes in a dream all my teeth fell out / A cracked smile and a silent shout"), mentre la seconda canzone parla di qualcuno che si dedica ad una cosa qualsiasi, solo per avere qualcosa che le faccia passare il tempo. Comunque in generale l’album riguarda il cercare qualcosa per passare il tempo, ma anche per evitare la solitudine.
Dal punto di vista musicale, invece, è basato sull’invenzione di suoni nuovi, sulla scoperta di nuovi sintetizzatori che producano fragilità e sensibilità in modo cangiante durante la loro riproduzione, ma che diano allo stesso tempo l’idea di forza. Insomma, una musica triste, fredda e buia, ma allo stesso tempo dura, suggestiva e bella.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Silent Shout (04:53)
I never knew this could happen to me
I know now fragility
I know there's people who I haven't told
I know of people who are getting old
Wish I could speak in just one sweep
What you are and what you mean to me
Instead I mumble randomly
You stand by and enlighten me
In a dream I lost my teeth again
Calling me woman and half man
Yes in a dream all my teeth fell out
A cracked smile and a silent shout
A cracked smile and a silent shout
If I explain it once thoroughly
He'll have you later 'cause it's never free
You were at the gigantic spree
I caught a glimpse now it haunts me
I caught a glimpse now it haunts me
02 Neverland (03:38)
Eyes are sober and this is the plan
I'm sitting in a car heading Neverland
A fancy man a fancy man
He's pointing with the fingers that are left on his hand
Eyes are hazel but far too cold
Looking out for love
But none of us can
Where's the monkey that I've been told of
I'm staring at the money
That burns in my hand
I'm dancing for dollars
And for a fancy man
Come right over
I'll knock on your sholder
This is a story and this is what I've planned
An angry man an angry man
Nothing is more fatal than an angry man
Vulnerable heights
Feed the hand that bites me
Following the steam into another room
Standing in the corner
Is this my home
Showing us love that none of us can
I'm singing for money
That burns in my hand
Tell me
Will I make it home tonight
I'm doing it for dollars and for a fancy man
I've got a lot of money that burns in my hand
03 The Captain (06:08)
Coming home after a long long walk
Coming home after a dozen of walks
Coming home after a long long war
Coming home after a dozen of wars
We are out of wind
We have pock-marked chin
We have lots of water
We turn the other cheek and we win
One thousand stories and there's always more
We've been offered one more lap to go
In my hand I hold a key
It's dear to me cause I know where it leads
We are out of wind
We have pock-marked chin
We have all this water
We turn the other cheek and we grin
05 Na Na Na (02:27)
I've got soul in my bones
Got a home, a dog and a man to call my own
Every month
I've got my period
To take care of
And to collect in blue tampons
Na na na
Na na na
I've got mace, pepper-spray
And some shoes that runs faster than a rapist rapes
What I need is chemical castrations, hope and godspeed
Na na na
Na na na
What I need is chemical castrations, hope and godspeed...
06 Marble House (05:18)
I cut your nails and comb your hair
I carry you down the stairs
I wanted to see right through from the other side
I wanted to walk a trail with no end in sight
The moment we believe that we have never met
Another kind of love it's easy to forget
When we are all alone then we do both agree
We have a thing in common this was meant to be
You close my eyes and soothe my ears
You heal my wounds and dry my tears
On the inside of this marble house I grow
And the seeds I sow will grow up prisoners too
The moment we believe that we have never met
Another kind of love it's easy to forget
When we are all alone then we do both agree
We have a thing in common this was meant to be
Now where's your shoulder
What is its name
What's your scent
Say it again
If it goes faster can you still follow me
It must be safe when it's on TV
I raise my hands to heaven for curiosity
I don't know what to ask for
What has it got for me
The others say we're hiding
It's as forward as can be
Some things I do for money
Some things I do for free
07 Like a Pen (06:13)
Sharpen my body like a pen
Come on I need to show it
Something too small for a lense
If I rub it if I wipe it
Guiding with one single hand
Nothing's wrong you like the feeling
I am all over the land
Come on I need to show it
Back on the mountain again
I was standing watching seasons
You're now my only friend
I'm too heavy, I'm the burden
Sitting and picking on myself
It's a shiny, shiny morning
And when the light finds my eye
I'll be fleeting like a scent
I hold my breath and then count to three
On and on outworn
Must be five hundred degrees
Will it show, in my show
08 From Off to On (03:57)
We can not wait much longer
We want happiness back
We want control of our bodies
Everything we've lacked
I think I even liked it
If the feeling was mine
A little something about my body
Is it the warmth inside
When we come home, we want it quiet and calm
We want you to sing us a song
When we come home, we pull the curtains down
Making sure that the TV is on
If you move a little closer
I'll tell you what's my aim
It's every evening on a big screen
Hosted by celebrities
I had a dream about deleting and killer whales
Is it the feeling of your body
Or is it the feeling of mine
When we come home, we want it quiet and calm
We want you to be around
When we come home, we pull the curtains down
Making sure that the TV is on
From off to on
From off to on
09 Forest Families (04:08)
Too far away from the city
Some kids left on their own
They said we have a communist in the family
I had to wear a mask
Too far away from the city
We had to make this room
Fathers were football players, formal works, policemen
What the mothers did I didn't know
Music tonight
I just want your music tonight
I saw her by the organ
She was laughing while pressing the keys
She said my favourite book was dirty and
You shouldn't show you can read
Too far away from the city
We never heard its noise
We learned how to stay fit and things like
Green-tones hide the blush
Music tonight
I just want your music tonight
Music tonight
I just want your music tonight
Too far away from the city
We came to breathe clean air
Nature left a safe oasis
And the mothers walked towards the forest
Music tonight
I just want your music tonight
Music tonight
I just want your music tonight
11 Still Light (03:15)
The doctor came in the morning
She held my hand
And asked "was it worth it?"
"Could it be worse than this?"
Please recall
Give me a hint
Anything will do
If this was the last time now you should tell us what to do
I was afraid I guess
Now I can't think no more
I was so concentrated
On keeping things together
I've learned to focus on
I didn't want to disappoint
Now where is everybody
Is it still light outside?
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Di odradek
La nostalgia del presente. Un presente che, a differenza del futuro, sembra non arrivare mai.
Sono recluso in uno spazio non mio, sottoposto ad un condizionamento, in balia di un manipolo che detta le regole con insistente noncuranza.
