and the world may be long for you
but it'll never belong to you
but on a motorbike when all the city lights blind your eyes tonight
are you feeling better now?
are you feeling better now?
are you feeling better now?
la la la la la la.....
Grace Cathedral Hill. The Decemberists. Castaways And Cutouts. Love it. Anyone else?
This is quite an album, and much more complex than I was expecting when I first got it, even with all the Neutral Milk Hotel and Jeff Mangum references appearing in most of the discussions about it. Maybe it's just because I'm a little older (OK, a lot older
), but the first thing that struck me about the music, and (especially) the vocals, was the similarity to Robyn Hitchcock, notably his solo work with the Egyptians. And a little bit of the Smiths. The second song even kinda reminds me of a slow Dismemberment Plan song like "The Jitters". And call me crazy, but the third song even reminds me a little of They Might Be Giants, something from the Flood album that I can't quite place at the moment. But there's an old cabaret aspect that runs through the music brought about by the use of those creaky accordians. Kind of a European folk sound, sometimes even a gypsy sound. The stories aren't quite as gripping as the epics ripped with such urgency from the insides of Jeff Mangum, but instead seem to be mostly told from an outside view and without much haste. Kind of reflective, you might say. More peaceful than NMH but still very personal. And very literate too, with lots of unique imagery. Another one that has aged very well for me over the last coupla years.
