Che lo si voglia o no i Thursday sono stati uno dei gruppi che più hanno segnato l'ultimo decennio.
Hanno rivoluzionato uno dei generi più sputtanati di sempre, l'emocore post anni 2000, elevandolo ad un livello di eccellenza difficilmente raggiungibile, e "Full Collapse" è l'inizio di tutto (o meglio, è il primo album sotto major poichè il debut "Waiting" è stato realizzato dall'etichetta indipendente Eyeball). Mi piace pensare al percorso del combo originario del New Jersey come al volo di una colomba, volatile particolarmente significativo per la band: è inannzitutto il loro logo, creato dal chitarrista Tom Keeley, e nei testi si ritrovano diversi riferimenti all'uccello; un volo ad ali spiegate, tra le nuvole appena sopra la città, osservando quello che accade in basso. Perchè è questo il panorama che descrivono i cinque: una corsa, rapida, veloce, tra le strette vie di una metropoli, una corsa che poi si fa più lenta quando la pioggia diminuisce, ma che poi implacabillmente ritornerà.
Bisogna subito precisare che la nasalissima voce del grande Geoff Rickly difficilmente piacerà al primo ascolto, se si riesce ad andare oltre a questo, a sentire tutta l'anima che ci mette, da quanto in profondità provengono gli scream... bè gran parte del lavoro è fatto. Perchè i Giovedì non sono solo la straordinaria prova vocale appena descritta, che già di per se basterebbe...il loro splendore risiede in egual modo negli intrecci che riesce a creare il duo Keeley-Pedulla, nei mai banali cambi di tempo, che ti colpiscono quando meno te lo aspetti, nelle incredibili aperture melodiche, nelle sfuriate metalliche, nei piccolissimi breakdown appena accennati. Sarebbe superfluo inoltre fare un'analisi track by track, si toglierebbe gran parte del gusto della scoperta, ma se volete scegliere un paio di pezzi per capire di cosa sto parlando partite da "Cross Out The Eyes" e "Paris in Flames".
Non vi è nulla di scontato, di già sentito, ogni stacco, ogni urlo, colpiscono come frecciate al cuore. E' qui che si trova la componente più emo del gruppo, ricordando a tratti i Sunny Day Real Estate, ma questo è solo l'inizio, perchè catalogarli appunto come "emo" o "post-hardcore" sarebbe quanto meno riduttivo, nonostante le loro radici provengono proprio da questo calderone.
"Full Collapse" è solo l'inizio del volo della colomba, un volo incessante, che quando batte la pioggia sembra stentare, rallenta, ma poi si alza, guardando la città, spiegando le ali d'aquila.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 A0001 (00:36)
We'll all look the same someday
And even now the robot starts to think
I wonder what it dreams
02 Understanding in a Car Crash (04:24)
Splintered piece of glass falls in the seat and gets caught
These broken windows, open locks, reminders of the youth we lost
In trying so hard to look away from you
We followed white lines to the sunset
I crash my car everyday the same way
Time to let this pass
(the time it takes, the time it takes to let go)
Time runs through our veins
(it starts and stops and starts and stops again)
We don't stand a chance in this threadbare time
(the time it takes, the time it takes to let go)
Time to let this pass
(the time it takes, the time it takes to let go)
Staring at the setting sun
No reason to come back again
The twlight world in blue and white
The needle and the damage done
I dont want to feel this way forever
A dead letter marked return to sender
Broken watch you gave me turns into compass
It's two hands still point to the same time 12:03, our last goodbye
So push the seats back a little further
I can see the headlights coming
So push the seats back a little further
Roll the windows down and take a breath
I can see the headlights coming
They paint the world in red and broken glass
Time to let this pass
(the time it takes, the time it takes to let go)
Time runs through our veins
(it starts and stops and starts and stops again)
We don't stand a chance in this threadbare time
(the time it takes, the time it takes to let go)
Time to let this pass
(the time it takes, the time it takes to let go)
Staring at the setting sun
No reason to come back again
The twlight world in blue and white
The needle and the damage done
I dont want to feel this way forever
A dead letter marked return to sender
The spinning hubcaps set the tempo for the music of a broken window
With the cameras on the cameras click
We open up the lens and can't stop
Staring at the setting sun
No reason to come back again
The twlight world in blue and white
The needle and the damage done
I dont want to feel this way forever
when the lights are on the cameras click
we open up the lens to broken glass
(and it's over in a flash)
Staring at the setting sun
No reason to come back again
The twlight world in blue and white
The needle and the damage done
I don't want to feel this way forever
a dead letter marked return to sender
(I'll never understand,
Understanding in a car crash)
In a crash
03 Concealer (02:19)
With fists raised high in tightened knots
the room explodes and now this blood is on your hands
and there's no time for a second chance
to paint my face with blood and tears and cover up
An open book that no one reads
A misspelled word that no one knows
You stole the rain
and then you turned around and tore my life in two
Just like the picture
that once hung on the wall in the room that we used to share
So fold me up, and put me back in the place
where you used to keep your heart
You think its getting smaller
Its been that way for quite some time now
Cadence beats down on the tar
it sounds the same as your fists raining down
We've got to leave before the sun sets
(If you wanted to change the way I look at you...)
Or maybe we don't have time, time to waste
It won't be long, it wont be long you know before your gone
(It won't be long before your gone)
Into the night
You won't have time
(if you wanted to change the way I look at you...)
To paint my face with cover up
04 Autobiography of a Nation (03:55)
Write these words back down, inside:
We have burned their villages,
and the people in them, died,
and we adopt their customs,
and everything they say, we steal.
All the dreams they had, we kill.
Still we all sleep sound, tonight.
Is this what you wanted, to hear?
We erased all their images, and dance,
and replaced them with borders, and flags.
Everything you said, you stole.
Everything you said, you stole.
At the top of this timeline you'll remember,
this is the lipstick on the collar,
and in my own life I've seen it in the mirror,
sometimes at the cost of others' hopes.
So, write these words back down, inside,
that's where you need it, the most,
and without conviction, of heart,
you will never feel it, at all.
Yeah-we all dance to the same beat
when we're marching-yeah-the t.v. tells us everything we need
to know, and this scene is painted
in all the fashions of the moment
and history is all the same.
Everything you say: you stole.
Every dream you dream: you bought.
But I am still here and we are all guilty.
05 A Hole in the World (03:27)
In this blackout inertia will hold our thoughts
And the exit sign offers no light to see by
Can we cast our shadows alone in the dark
I can't see without you
when the world comes crashing down,
part with it, start over,
when the world comes crashing down,
these notes will fold themselves,
standing at the margin's edge
to see where the daybreak ends
We fell in this hole that opened up
givin up on hope, living without love
And we still type black lines
When the world is crashing down
These notes will fold themselves
Adjust the aperture to focus on the negative
Like phosohors in the darkroom ignite'
Like dodging faces in the corner of the print
Frame by frame this hole is opening up and we fall in
There's no such thing as whole
There is a hole in the world
06 Cross Out the Eyes (04:08)
Lets call this the quiet city
where screams are felt as the waves of the stoplights
Drive through the streets
as gunshots punctuate the night
The sides we take divide us from our faith
and the mourning dove gets caught in the telephone wire
Asleep you set the fire in your own house
and the night was a knife the cut
and I'm paralyzed
Cross out the eyes, blur all the lines
Tearing this canvas from the wall
Cross out the eyes, put lines through these cries
Pulled all the leaves from the trees that fall
Yeah trees that fall, trees that fall, trees that fall, fall
A silent dance that we did into this hospital bed
hear voices from another room:
"It happens all the time"
But July in the sand then
The leaves fall and counting down our days to live
Drain the blood from this valentine:
"We can rise on the wings of the dove
See blue skies getting caught in the trail of all this smoke
We can rise, like candles in the dark -Yours always"
and an envelope marked with your new address
Asleep you set the fire in your own house
And the night was a knife that cut
And I'm paralyzed
Cross out the eyes, blur all the lines
Tearing this canvas from the wall
Cross out the eyes, put lines through these cries
Pulled all the leaves from the trees that fall
Cross out the eyes, blur all the lines, lines
Cross out the eyes, blur all the lines, cries
The eyes, cross, the eyes cross
It was the first time face to face
Crossing the line talking to the other side of death
Hearing the words that choke memories into flatlines
Calling your name, hoping for something to wash these dreams of you away
Til we die, memories and flatlines
Cross out the eyes til we set off these lines
Cross out the eyes til we set off these lines
Cross out the eyes
Our fence was blown down in a winter storm in this field
(Cross out the eyes)
Stretches out of this world into the sound
(A trace of)
What can we do the put a stop the the coming white days
(A love song)
I'm hoping for something to wash these dreams of you away
07 Paris in Flames (04:33)
Now it's time to wrap our fears in the night
And on the first day I'll dress this city in flames
After the things you say
You hate me for being this way
Still you won't let go of old ideals
There is no headline to read at night
When the record skips and you're not holding the needle
We all sing the songs of separation
And we watch our lives bleed out through our hands
Thats how it was on the first day
When WE saw Paris in Flames
rain rain down
I think it's gonna rain, rain down
I think it's gonna rain, rain down
I think it's gonna rain
I think it's gonna rain, rain down
I think it's gonna rain, rain down
I think it's gonna rain
Here in this collapsed lung of a borough
There is no sunlight
The sunlight is manufactured in a windowless room
Distant and incoherent
Businessmen hang themselves
We all sing the songs of seperation
and we watch our lives bleed out through our hands
that's how it was on the first day
when we saw Paris in flames
The lower side is a jukebox playing the deadman's crescendo
The needle is a vector
An intersection that we all must cross
A dimly lit hallway where shadows of moths decorate the walls
Discard this message, discard this message, discard this message
Burn your city down
Discard this message
Throw this bottle back in the ocean
Rip this page from the history books
Smash all the street signs
Erase all the maps
Forget my name
Forget my face
Forget my name
Because it's gonna rain, it's gonna rain
and it never ends
We all sing the songs of separation
(Rain Rain Down, I think its gonna rain rain down)
and we watch our lives bleed out through our hands
(I think its gonna rain rain down, I think its gonna rain)
that's how it was on the first day
(Rain Rain Down, I think its gonna rain rain down)
when we saw Paris in flames
(I think its gonna rain rain down, I think its gonna rain)
08 I Am the Killer (03:35)
Tuesday wakes up silent and there aren't enough pills to sleep (cut out)
Like a miswired short wave radio
It's over but nothing can change to make this right (try again)
When you live in a nightmare, its written all over your face
And in a short time
You're never the same again
The distance is streamlined
between decision and defence
Distorient the senses, loss of identity
No one to trust, no one to trust
Life runs through this trade
I am no killer, but I still hide my face, in the coming days
I wake up every morning from the same dream (kill it)
But you can't change the letters when the ink dries
I woke up on the sidewalk and everything just changed (come on)
And now the lights are blinking but I can't see anything
Life runs through this trade
I am no killer, but I still hide my face, in the coming days
Life runs through this trade
I am no killer
Everything's falling apart, Everything's falling apart
Everything's falling... apart
Crumpled paper, crushed tin cans, broken bottles
paper scraps, we're all the same, we're all the same, paper scraps
We're all the same, we're all the same
We all look the same
We all look the same
We all look the same
But I am the killer
And in a short time
Your never the same again
The distance is streamlined
Between decision and....
09 Standing on the Edge of Summer (03:42)
In this room, I'm sitting by your side
Cause it rains for hours and the phone is off its hook
Standing on the edge, casting lots to set me up
Before you knock me down
Off the summer's edge and drown me
We're betting on our own lives
Making up for all the time we lost
In this house of cards we're all holding hearts and spades
(One breath, one step, could knock it all down)
But you lead with your eyes and you give it away
(Decide, Design, to cut from the clouds)
When the people you love get lost in the shuffle
(When you leave, you leave nothing but broken hearts)
You let it go and then you fold
So we stay on the open road
We drive for hours and still no end in sight at all
Driving in your car
Miss the stop sign fall in love
Just to get knocked down
Off the summer's edge and drown me
We're betting on our own lives
Making up for all the time we lost
In this house of cards we're all holding hearts and spades
(One breath, one step, could knock it all down)
But you lead with your eyes and you give it away
(Decide, Design, to cut from the clouds)
When the people you love get lost in the shuffle
(When you leave, you leave nothing but broken hearts)
You let it go and then you fold
Pull your punches and burn with your cigarettes
Pulled like a punch, burnt like a cigarette...
Forever!!!
10 Wind-Up (04:23)
Just ahead I see you winding up
And you're dressing this color on the edge of fire
Until these tightened strides
They march in time again
I don't know where I will go
I don't know if I will cut through
I don't know if my heart will beat without you guiding it
Winding up
Leading me
Winding up to explode
It's the sound of your racing heart
That beats in time with every start
That reaches up and across the sky
That makes you want to rise
I'm falling to peices
I can't let go
Tearing apart your lies
I want to live
It's the sound of your shotgun pulse
Beating over and over in your silent halls
It's a thought that keeps us alive
It makes us want to try
A scream to guide me through my life
Winding up
Guiding me
Winding up to what you can not unwind
This side of you and if it's taken away
You won't know what to do
You're stretching to meet expectations that you will never reach
And now it's far to late to ever leave this cold
I'm giving up
Marching in time with your drums
I'm letting go of everything i once loved
11 How Long Is the Night? (05:44)
If we run far away do you think we will ever die?
We'll throw these books in the fire
Can you stop the train
Cause it some delay?
The change machine lied
And it's too late to scream
How long is the night?
It's never over
The ribbon was tied
But the card was never read
The ribbon was crimson
The color of the night
Can you see the handwriting on the walls
And on the autumn leaves that call
"What are we gonna do?"
The trees are giving up on us
The needle and the thread
Won't stitch us to the branch
And the night never ends
I will never sleep again
(I will never even close my eyes)
If the sun is on its way
Then we will never die
And we'll follow these tracks to the sight
Now the lungs collapse
And the air is getting thin
All breath expired
Is too late to heal?
How long is the night?
It's all I ever see anymore
But the day was so bright in the pictures
In the photo album that you gave me
It's all I have to live for
I'm falling down
And you're not there to break my fall
I shut my eyes when you're around
I hold my breath to kill the sound
I'm falling down.
And you're not here to break my fall
12 I1100 (01:40)
We'll all look the same someday,
and even now the robot starts to think.
I wonder what it dreams. The tide is high on Fourteenth Street.
The rain comes down to clear the heat.
The way in is the same way out.
The way up is the same way down.
Now there is no safe way out.
Carico i commenti... con calma