(Podcast show notes are in the post before this one)
Padre Pio, "Madeline"
The Fanatic Promotions bio for Padre Pio is not being hyperbolic when they call this music "Roxy Music-esque". If I didn't know who this was, I would swear it was a long-lost Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry recording. David Mosey's singing is pleading without being pathetic. It's passionate and romantic--the kind of voice that made young New Wavers in the 80's swoon (not talking about me, or anything...). Of course when you start picking apart the lyrics, it's a little less ideally romantic. As you listen to the song, you realize he's comparing Madeline to a holy figure...if your religion is cheap sex. She's the Mary in the Church of Las Vegas. She accepts "communion under {her] red skirt". He tells her to be aware, though, because her "church is burning". There's a true sadness in the line "He reminds you of dad, so you're going home with him tonight." Like any good romantic poet, Mosey sees the truth and the tragedy all as aspects of a greater romantic story. One of the values of bands like Padre Pio, Roxy Music and Something For Rockets (another nouveau New Wave band) is that they can find the beautiful, the romantic and the yearning in even "questionable" places. Even Madeline, as she's accepting her flesh communion, needs someone to appreciate her as a person.
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The cover for The Madeline EP
Johann Johannson, "The Rocket Builder"
It's fitting that this song was created in Iceland. Like Iceland, this song has many depths that rise to many plateaus. It starts off hesitantly, as if it's testing its feet on the ice to make sure it's steady. It builds confidence, and the strings begin to move more fluidly, developing a cohesive, and uninterrupted melody. Then a second part takes over, creating a winterscape plateau of bell sounds, slightly hushed so as not to rattle the ice. But then a loud crashing barges in, like a giant's footsteps. The whole topography threatens to go. Tension seizes the songs as all three characters vie for dominance. The song is courting an avalanche. The three parts begin to twist and intertwine, and the snap seems inevitable, but soon the giant's footsteps tread away and the strings gently lead us out.
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The description Johannson gives of this song is fascinating
Johann Johannsson actually looks like a guy who would read Guidelines For A Propulsion Device Based On Heim's Quantum Theory (which also happens to be the sub-title of the 10th song on his album, Fordlandia)
Ian McGlynn, "Memorial Day Parade"
This is Pop in the best possible sense. The way pop music's supposed to be. It's buoyant, but it's not treacly. It's not false (though he does sing part of the song in falsetto). The piano is as beautiful as anything Alicia Keys does on the radio, yet for some reason he doesn't have her exposure (er, well, he could wear her clothes, then he would have her exposure...but that would perhaps turn awkward.) The music is light-hearted, but not overly frothy. I feel a little lighter as I'm listening to it...a little less burdened. Good pop music is supposed to do that. Bad pop music makes you feel like you have indigestion. Like you ate Taco Bell three times in a row.
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C'mon...give Scarecrow a hug. You know you wanna!
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