Metronomy - the beat of the wierd

If I've given you a lift in my car lately, chances are you might have heard some of the new Metronomy album I've been playing a lot: The English Riveria.

Typically known for their remixes of other work (eg Goldfrapp's Happiness) this seems to be a kind of breakthrough album for the odd outfit, who use mostly electronic instruments and percussion but also use voice and other stuff (nice bit of flute near the end of the album). 

I like the quirkiness and catchiness of the beat, and the slightly chaotic way of mixing all this with the lyrics and riffs and short keyboard melodies. It's superior synth nonsense that achieves something more - try tracks like the well-balanced "The Bay" the addictive "The Look" and the pop-like "Everything Goes My Way". Then delve into the rest of the album and be surprised by the cool restraint of "Loving Arm" or the expanding upbeat guitar/synth sound of "Corinne" that slowly fills out the room with the chorus (of sorts): "I got my heart tied up, I got my heart in a bind, she just wants to dance all the time".

Recommended as something a bit different to everyday pop.

Picture by Платонова Алина (http://gete-ap.livejournal.com/62796.html) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Recovering Realism and Optimism – inspired by Coldplay’s “Christmas Lights”

If the music industry is anything to go by, it seems that Christmas is the time of year for optimism, a kind of hope against the odds. We hear songs of peace and joy for those in need, songs proclaiming an end to war, songs about all our dreams coming true.

Which, in the UK, is quite an odd thing for us. We are used to brushing off any news of new education or health schemes with a good dose of cynicism; we are used to being sceptics that the wars we fight do any good or that they will end; we are used to accepting the prevailing attitude that “Life is a bitch and then you meet one”.

So how far do we accept all these songs of hope and joy and fulfilment? Do we let them wash over us and never get our hopes up too much? Or are we required to take some action to work at loving others and bringing peace?

And here’s the “heart issue”: For Christians, who have hope, how should my attitude be different to my cynical work colleagues?

Let me be clear – I’m not saying would should hold back when critically assessing politics or our leaders in war, or the messages of the media or entertainment industry. Far from it! I’m just saying: Shouldn’t the Christian’s attitude to life be distinctive? Shouldn’t our hope be evident, so people ask us for the reason for the hope that I have? And not just at Christmas!

What got me thinking about this again was Coldplay’s excellent new song “Christmas Lights”. The band can be incredibly soulful, but also very uplifting, and in the new song it’s the mix of realism and optimism that struck me.


Chris Martin paints the picture of a man alone, walking the streets at Christmas, with a longing for something better – his feelings don’t match up with his expectations: “You’re still waiting for the snow to fall/ it doesn’t really feel like Christmas at all”. The reason is a very down-to-earth one: Despite it being “Christmas night” he and his partner have had “another fight”.

The lyrics encompass the loneliness and the ache of fresh pain, and a sense of disorientation: What will Christmas mean for him now? He needs fresh markers, he needs new meaning and he seeks it in the streets of London (“I took my feet/ to Oxford Street”).

But the song turns to optimism as well, as the man sings to the Christmas lights “Keep shining on” and hopes that they will “bring her back to me”. There’s a sense of anticipation as if his longing and his singing will bring her back. They hold on to festive "chandeliers of hope".

A brief look elsewhere...

Other Coldplay tracks similarly show a strong hope amid the uncertainty of the ‘now’. In “X&Y” we hear that something’s broken and they are trying to repair it “any way they can”. Even though they are both floating “on a tidal wave”, they are there “together”, which seems to be the point of the song.

In “White Shadows” although even sound “is breaking up” – the song suggests “Maybe you’ll get what you wanted/ Maybe you’ll stumble upon it/ Everything you ever wanted/ In a permanent space” but it seems to depend on something: “Maybe if you say it you’ll mean it/ Maybe if you find it you’ll keep it”. A message about pursuing a dream and finding it can become a reality, if we really want it?

And one of the most positive songs they’ve written “Strawberry Swing” talks of not being able to wait for “tomorrow”, to be with someone, and that day being “a perfect day”. In the heady way of love, he proclaims “The sky could be blue/ I don’t mind/ Without you it’s a waste of time”. The joy he holds is completed and validated by his being able to share it. And in “Life in Technicolor II” the idea of being released from gravity is an expression, I think, of freedom. What a great track record of celebrating positive things in song!


What it all boils down to

This year I’ve read lots of articles and books (and heard plenty of opinions elsewhere) which are cynical about truth claims or religion, cynical about people or society changing, cynical about there being a purpose of life, or even fairly despairing about achieving a goal they have in mind. Some people look at the world and have a pretty gloomy view of where things are going.

But as Christians, there’s much more going on for us. There’s not just human things to be concerned about. There are the things of God, growing, often unseen, in this world. There is a realm of perfect peace which is coming which we get a taste of now. So let’s act like hope and joy are real things, that we can have in Christ and his Kingdom. It’s not something idyllic that will never happen. It’s not just a fairy tale – it’s real and so is our real Christmas Light – the light of the world.

Poem: On denying self & paralysing guilt

Bad poetry:

Here am I
The monster in my own life
Grace and art gone to the wind
Because I am languishing
The monster

Good poetry,
Showing signs of improvement:

Where am I
What rod can I branch off
Making the angle required
To support this tree, standing,
And these people?

Ties made or re-made,
With terms of possibility:
Weakness to weakness
To strength that is vital.

For music-lovers, here are 3 playlists of great tunes I have found on Spotify, which I really love. Just click on the links below to bring up the playlist. Finding a band called Band of Horses has been great, also I am enjoying hearing some great Creed songs, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Fleetwood Mac, Vampire Weekend, some top, little-heard Athlete tracks, Owl City, John Mayer, The Pigeon Detectives, Marina & the Diamonds, Katrina and the Waves or even tunes from Seether, Jimmy Eat World, Mighty Mouse or The Cat Empire.

Brand New Day
Spring leftovers
Spring picks 2

To check out my analysis/reviews of a few excellent tracks and albums, start by clicking here or click the "music-related" tag on my blog.

November tune-age

Here's a new playlist for your Spotify browser (because I enjoyed making the last one): November tunes. Discovering Vampire Weekend, White Lies (thanks Joe) and finding some classics from Goo Goo Dolls and Genesis have been the highlights this month. I must make more time for the Muse album, which sounds incredible. You will also find some Switchfoot, Killers and a track from Mark Ronson's album Version. Click on the tag "music-related" to find other music reviews from the blog's past, including Elbow, who have been on top form the last couple of years.

I've also written about the Killers and Jars of Clay. Let me know what music is catching your attention at the moment!

What are you listening to?

Ah, the joys of using Spotify. I've been discovering great album tracks from artists I knew little about, including Ray La Montagne, Amy MacDonald, Athlete (they have 4 albums now?) and someone called Tommy Sparks. Excellent stuff. It's also been a good way to listen to U2's new album... Check out my fairly random playlist:

http://open.spotify.com/user/rdtownro/playlist/0EZwS3yCH5zFTV8KTEbDgh

Music review: "Version" by Mark Ronson

You got to pick this one up. A bold album of upbeat alternative pop and RnB, it relies on some excellent drums, jazzy trumpet, brash or soothing synth (even some saxophone), and of course guest vocals (everyone from Amy Winehouse to Kasabian), to bring great energy to an exciting mix of cover tracks. Impeccable production by Mark Ronson throughout keeps things moving, and although many tracks are far from ground-breaking, they are catchy and fresh. The track on there to bin is “Pretty Green”, childish in its execution and repetition, whereas personal favourites include the cover of “Amy”, a great tune, well updated, and 2 of my favourite ever collaborations: “Stop me” with Daniel Merriweather, and the superbly funky “Apply Some Pressure” with Paul Smith from Maximo Park. As a whole the album plays like someone’s eclectic iPod track list, modernised and pulled together with a thread of brass and bass rhythm running through the punked-up lot. When choosing music to take on holiday I couldn’t conceive of a better or a more varied pop album from the last couple of years to take. Time to brush up your air-trumpets, and turn up the volume!

Round-up of what is catching my imagination

What caught your imagination this week? For me it was several unexpectedly fun things.

For one I just had to point out this book - the cause of laughter in Waterstones the other day - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!! Even the first chapter is a mix of faithful reproduction and its own twists: While Mrs Bennet's job is to marry off her daughters, Mr Bennet, obsessively polishing his musket, has the job is to keep them alive. I can only guess the struggle Lizzy has for the right sort of equal-footed marriage for herself and the best course for her sisters is only confounded by the outbreaks of zombies roaming the streets and potentially infecting relations or partners... can't wait to read it!

Other stuff I've been enjoying includes: listening to a magical set from Snow Patrol at Swindon on Radio 1, hearing about God's all-surpassing goodness even when it doesn't seem like it (from Psalm 73), defending a wounded comrade in Eastern Europe in Call of Duty 4, drawing a fine leafy plant in the office while on the phone, and following Boy Blue's adventures through volume 6 of Fables. I'm loving the way the Fables universe has been expanded by this latest volume, and we've seen a new side of our good-hearted Boy Blue, and while even sly Jack managed to surprise me by getting a return for his riches. I also love the inclusion of Jabberwocky's vorpal blade, which goes through a fair few of the adversary's forces, representing the first aggressive tactics the modern-day Fables have taken in a while. Also I've been finding some mainstream comics fun, such as Spiderman's part in Civil War, and Batman's RIP story is a worthwhile, shocking read, which throws a lot of established parts of Bruce Wayne's world out of the window. More comics news coming soon... including my impressions of some less known Vertigo books, and maybe some comments about the increasingly zany and morally challenged mercenary Deadpool. If you're a comics fan, try this site for some recommendations: http://www.comicsreview.co.uk/nowreadthis/

Also: Now that Heroes season 3 has finished with some more frankly ridiculous but fun Sylar-centred episodes, I hope to get back into some other TV, and I wonder if anyone else is sad to have missed Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra recently? I only caught the end, which raised a few smiles.

"Pause" - a review

Here are my thoughts on an inspiring evening titled “Pause” by the Christian drama and arts group Acts 29. As one Reading student pointed out, it’s a way into evangelism that isn’t purely middle class! (That’s one thing about the arts – they can work on lots of levels.)

OK, so here’s what you need to know about Pause.

The idea? To run an evening of intimate entertainment which does more than entertain – which aims to stir up thought about the deeper issues of life and to provide a conversation starter, through a variety of high quality acts, from an R&B/Soul singer to a hip-hop duo, from impressive, rousing rock to probing poetry to sharp, engaging monologue. I particularly enjoyed the cleverly layered guitarwork, the way you were made to feel at ease during the monologues, "down the pub" style, the classy, funky keyboard-accompanied songs - and the way the poetry brought a sense of place and roused feelings about situations and systems, and yet had the power to get us to think. For instance at one point our enigmatic poet recasts tube passangers as silent beings frozen on their "pillar arms". Where has the life gone out of this picture? It is in the poet, who is there, it seems, actively questioning the situation.

The writers behind the project clearly see the power of great art to raise our eyes from the things of everyday to the Maker of everything, and I can imagine the performance nudging non-Christians to respond to these attitudes and ideas, and to take time to consider where their lives are heading in the middle of all the messages and ideas in our society. All this will provide a chance to speak about our message of hope “in season”.

What makes it good?

Well, on New Word Alive, I learned about the value of shared life experiences in the dialogue between Christians and our largely secular culture. These experiences are made possible because of God, who made us in His image. We have emotions and hopes, because we were built for good things, and we have, like God, the capacity for joy and love - and brilliant thoughts, which we can think “after His thoughts”. He dreamed every creative thing up before we even thought it, as He (specifically Jesus) is the source of everything good (cf Colossians 1:16-17).

"Pause" connected with us as it sought to evoke and reflect on important life experiences and feelings in our culture - helping us relate to the characters involved, and also (sometimes more directly) pointing to the one who designed us to enjoy such experiences. Here’s a quick list of issues which were suggested or came up in the evening:

Our sense of humour about all kinds of things,
peer pressure, and group behaviour,
the way we can’t escape media and information in a non-stop TV world,
the way we hide behind masks, looking good but being broken inside,
the way we often refuse to be vulnerable in front of someone,
the joy that someone’s love can bring us when they make incredible sacrifices for us, and how we treasure them,
the way we build our lives, and the direction for them,
the idea of not being real, or the feeling of being out of place in the world, or the idea that we are just cogs in a vast impersonal machine, and related questions about the value of working,
the way we tell, and love to hear, stories (even tall stories), the way we feel threatened in our society when asked about religious things, unless it is in the pub, or very casually discussed,
and finally, the wonders of creation and expression, demonstrated in music and rhythm and in the way we experiment with sound and words.

Many of these themes and ideas celebrate what is good about mankind, and face us with our huge aspirations in life, filling our horizons with new perspectives, some right, some foolhardy. The acts suggest that we long for authentication, love, friendship, expression, freedom, and to be taken seriously, and that we are frustrated in many ways and have reason for sorrow. More than once I heard a biblical strand of thought suggested, that we should seek God's help, and that His love is there for us if we come to Him - really the only answer to humanity's real problems.

Without being in relationship with Him, forgiven freely through the death of Jesus, and accepted into His family, our lives our ultimately futile, and fragile, something that can sometimes be sensed in art. The Bible clarifies this, teaching that man is "like breath" without God, quickly fading away, and having no hope - without Him we are not ultimately heading towards great things but towards death, after which we will have no hope to produce or to experience anything good at all: In fact we will reap the rewards for living bad lives, by facing God’s punishment in hell.

Sobering words, but necessary ones: life is meaningless without the hope of a future, and this is reflected in the way the working life can become a drudgery, and things seem to keep going round and round; we were designed for somewhere better (as CS Lewis suggested, cf Ecclesiastes).

**************
Other reflections: For what is effectively a pre-evangelism event, there was a lot of talent on show, and great production values (good work, team) – and this made me think more broadly about the state of things in the UK. We are so fortunate to have all these resources for an event targeted brilliantly to a certain audience, a certain type of friend, who is up for discussion and who enjoys stimulating art.

But why do we need pre-evangelism in the UK? Part of me tends to think it’s because we are now either too afraid or unimaginative to develop good relationships with those who are not Christians and to speak up to let them know about our wonderful gospel message, and so we want to rely on a packaged resource like this one. Or perhaps we are just too unconcerned for our friends’ eternal future? Whatever, we really need more creative ways to raise questions and starting points to speak about the true and triune God of Christianity, as our society has become increasingly reluctant to discuss Him and increasingly unaware of what the Bible has to say about Him. I’m all for more projects like this one!

Anyone else got any views on Pause?
http://www.myspace.com/pausetour

Coldplay puppets

http://thebluefish.org/2009/04/video-life-in-technicolour.html

This is genius - I LOVE the techie, and everything else! I wonder if we will ever see that tiny helicopter again, over some faraway hill perhaps. What a fun idea.

Listening to Elbow - utter brilliance

Today I’m going to tell you why I love Elbow and their unconventional, often sing-able, superbly arranged and poignant brand of music. First of all I like how lead singer Guy Garvey sounds like he sings wandering through country streets looking up at the sky, or sitting outside a pub, head nodding in the evening haze. Far from the chic squeaky clean Wellington boot sound of many rock bands, Elbow reminds me more of a worn, mud-clotted Kicker boot, a solid shoe that has some weight to it, and a story to tell, yet still manages to be stylish, as the sound develops. The sound they produce seems to have travelled along a gritty road trailing from early albums to newer beats such as “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver” and the growly “Ground For Divorce”. You can tell already I’m going to have fun quoting the bizarre lyrics to some of their tracks…

The songs are typically slow and somehow manage to be simultaneously earthy and light – take “Grace under Pressure” as an example. The manic syncopated drums, and layered guitars, violins and synth, could be focused on and allowed to become overwhelming, but instead we find ourselves relaxing into the choir’s rhythm, enjoying following that simple melody-line as it repeats and builds, rises and falls.

Other songs such as “Leaders of the Free World”, with its impressive climax, and “Fallen Angel”, with its Feeder-like vibe, are catchy, in an intense, moody way, while classics such as “Red” and “Powder Blue” are simply beautiful, made up of almost-hypnotic forever-falling cadences, and that tragic, delicate voice again. In a moment of lightness and clarity we hear the wry lyrics: “I’ll be the corpse in your bath-tub… useless. I’ll be as deaf as a post … if you hold me” in the superbly ‘out-there’ track “Newborn”, which is definitely a grower. The actual singing surprises by the way it subtly moves from a subdued and beaten-down tone to fuller stronger notes, and often we sense that the punchy or droning chords mimic the strength of the voices – including the strange use of choir in the latest album, The Seldom-Seen Kid, which features a broader sound.

This 2008 album was the Brit award-winner, and, while it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, its blend of provocative, strong themes, energetic rhythms, continually surprising words and melodies, which often look at pity, memory and disappointment, combined with excellent production by the band themselves made this product distinct from most other albums out there. To take a sample, “Mirrorball” provides some gentle moments, creating a wide space in your mind as you hear the broad orchestral backing some more private, contemplative, even romantic, lyrics. The beautifully arranged hits “One Day Like This” (better turned up loud, especially for the euphoric line “Holy cow I love your eyes. And only now I see the light”) and “The Bones of You” (about an encounter with a lover which makes the “singer” character question his busy “work ’til I break” lifestyle) – these are accompanied by more straightforward evocative tracks like the crude, less musically dense “Some riot”, which is about a friend who has a drinking problem: “I think when he’s drinking he’s drowning some riot. What is my friend trying to hide?” The writers show they are conscious of the problems of binge-drinking as a coping strategy, and the effect this can have on a friendship. Repeat listening makes your hair stand on end by the time we hear the deep and mournful voice humming at the end of the track, and you feel the sadness of the situation.

Probably their best album so far, it is definitely worth a few listens in those quiet moments – you will find yourself gradually transported away from your situation, in a way that is sometimes relaxing, sometimes more fully engaging, and as you listen you will probably find yourself entering into the feelings the band evoke, as I did, feeling along with them you are “five years ago and three thousand miles away”.

Sad Clown

The song “Sad Clown” by the US band Jars of Clay seems to pick up on some of the themes and ideas in my recent book review of When People Are Big and God is Small. It highlights how we feel we have to perform for others and how we think we deserve other people’s attention and care because of that. The singer cries mournfully, “I put on this hat, I wore all this paint -just for you.”

As the song progresses it is clear that the character in the song knows someone who sees through his performance (singing “you break me open”), some person or love who exposes him uncomfortably to his own self-centredness. He is being controlled by thoughts about this Someone or about others, wondering: “Do I preoccupy you – with my wit – to cover this lie? Are you mesmerised? Do you think me faithful? Do you think I’m a clown?” Why is he paranoid about his faithfulness? Is he afraid he will not measure up to the standard?

I think the implication in the repeated refrain that “you break me open” is that God is the one who ultimately exposes him, because he sees him through and through, past every pretence. But perhaps, at the end of the day, the singer is inviting God to “stumble inside” with him. Some have suggested that the singer poses the question of what God thinks of our performance – He thinks we are being clowns when we strive to do religious things as if these things are pleasing or entertaining to Him. Could the song be hinting at the crushing truth that God is not impressed with our efforts? And that we need to see the shallowness of our performance, and accept how we can not earn God’s favour? Where is the answer? Can we come bare and empty to God to know and experience His passionate love for us? Is this in fact the only honest and true way to come to God at all?

The lyrics for many of the songs are left vague (perhaps too vague) and I don’t presume to know if this is the intended meaning, but I think it’s heading in the right direction.

If you don’t know the band, I’d invite you to get hold of the album “Sad Clown” is from: If I Left The Zoo. It’s not their best – that accolade probably goes to their funky and varied 2006 rock/pop album Good Monsters or their self-titled first album (from 1995), which has a more experimental folk rock feel. Having said all this If I Left The Zoo does have some great tracks including the hit “Crazy Times”, a personal favourite. Their sound is quite varied but it usually combines thoughtful and poetic lyrics with guitar-led music, which can produce anything from upbeat jangly pop (“Grace” or “Work”), to more raw and sombre songs (“Needful Hands” or “Oh My God”). I look forward to checking out their next projects.

When You Were Young

This week the new Killers song “Human” has been blaring out of the radio: “Are we human or are we dancers?” Recently I have been enjoying their 2006 album, Sam’s Town, which I have been listening to in between things like Newton Faulkner, the Editors and Stuart Townsend. So why do I like the Killers and their signature noisy mix of pop and rock?

For one thing, I enjoy the strange and sing-able lyrics, which often, on a basic level, question some aspect of who we are as people, or lament the loss of something, be it a particular friend, companionship, our feelings, or even our senses (eg “For Reasons Unknown”). The aforementioned album is impressive, and I find Brandon Flowers’ voice and the reverberating guitars together tend to evoke the feeling you get when life is slightly out of control - when you are struggling, but still see hope; when you have that feeling that “the sun is beating down my neck” but you’re still going to “make it out” somehow (see “Bling (Confessions of a King)”).

It’s hard to tell how serious their lyrics should to be taken – for instance one cover track from the Sawdust album (“Shadowplay”) states that “In a room without a window in the corner I found truth” without really indicating what that truth is (relationship? Understanding of oneself? Is “truth” really to be understood as something one can only get at in enclosed spaces?) I’d guess that some of the songs are about playing with ideas, and there is no particular coherent way of understanding them.

Others however seem to make useful observations of the ambitions and hopes of the young in the West. The track “When You Were Young” seems particularly relevant in today’s climate where pursuing a relationship is, for some, the reason for living. It resonates with me partly because of its music video, which sketches out a love story for us. At first, a beautiful girl is shown waiting by a large wooden cross, and remembering in brief flashbacks the relationship we are about to see unfold in the rest of the video. We next see her as she was, praying earnestly in an old church – and according to the lyrics longing for “a beautiful boy/ to save you from your old ways”. When she emerges a man (in a cowboy hat) appears over the ridge and takes her by the hand, while Brandon sings “Watch him now, here he comes!” Their relationship quickly becomes one of passionate love and sex, but in the space of a few seconds of play-time, we watch her discover him in bed with another woman. Totally distraught, she leaves and is pictured walking the streets alone. The resolution however is telling: She appears to make the decision to return to him, despite the fact that Brandon and his band seem to sing the following words of the song right at her: “He doesn’t look a thing like Jesus – but he talks like a gentlemen, as you imagined when you were young”.

Not only does the song create the real uncertainties and hopes that accompany a new relationship (“Can we climb this mountain? I don’t know”), it also seemingly addresses us (the whole piece uses direct second-person pronouns), showing up a common desire in us and our generation for that “perfect” relationship. It is as if we are all waiting our whole lives for a person of our imagination to turn up. But the contrast of reality, as shown in the video, is that the one we long for, while appearing to be perfect, the “gentleman” of childhood dreams, turns out to be less than we hoped for; we are still not saved.

How is this resolved for us? Do we have to strike out on our own, cut off ties from others and assert ourselves on our own, or do we merely accept the partner who hurts us for who he or she is and lower our expectations? Or perhaps neither of these alternatives show the most helpful attitudes to relationships, which we tend to charge with holding more promise and security and hope for us than they actually do. I certainly know of one guy my age who keeps getting into passionate relationships in the hope that they will “sort out” his life in some indefinable way – he seems to revel in riding the rollercoaster of emotions that each problematic relationship brings; that’s what life is about for him.

Of course we would all hope for a relationship that brings mutual encouragement and support, and a high view of faithfulness would seem right. But it is unsurprising to find ourselves unsaved by a relationship from “old ways” that we wanted to leave behind. And life is about more than youthful dreams of love – we don’t want to be paralysed and unable to face the future, waiting passively to be saved by a loving relationship, and looking for perfection in imperfect beings.

The story behind the song definitely highlights the gap between fairy-tale thoughts and shocking reality. I think we need to be somewhere in between – hopeful realists. What do you think? Do you agree with my reading of the music video? And can you see people you know naively falling for the lie that life is all about waiting for perfection to come in the form of “the right one”?

Well, this is a somewhat unique post for me – hopefully this blog is big enough for reflective and challenging prose as well as attempts at poetry and other issues and books I’m interested in. Next: a hybrid review/analysis of the wickedly brilliant graphic novel V for Vendetta.

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