mejekel wrote:Simonp wrote:"The best music works when it resonates with truth"
Care to elaborate on this? Not quite sure what you mean by it
Now that's a question!!! Well I'd list all the great music I like and it all has an emotional resonance (oh christ this sounds like one of Sylvian's interviews!!!) that creates an emotional reaction in me. So for me music has to either appeal emotionally (how it makes you feel) or intellectully (either due to musicanship or composition of the piece) or very rarely both.
I'm happy you love Manafon but the lyrics are vague and lack emotion for me and the music although pleasant enough is not that interesting and does tend to repeat itself. I'm not saying its an awful record but the standards were set very high, very early on in Sylvian's solo career with BT and SOTB
I'm glad that Simon had inquired as well, for I was wondering what all this was about dealing with 'resonance' of 'truth'. I suppose we are discussing the lyrics of Manafon...which definitely consist of just as much an amazing amount of metaphor as anything Sylvian previously wrote, yet easily comes across to me as more straightforward and honest than any of that mystical and spiritual babble that Sylvian wrote for his classic material...and definitely more true and intellectual than when he simply wrote lyrics based around the stolen poetic and artistic titles created by others.
This recent lyrical style that Sylvian took up after leaving Virgin seems much more direct, surely dealing more in realism and current world events now more than ever. As for Manafon, I am surprised that anyone would find it any more vague than previous work, but you previously had requested an explanation in your previous post so I'll be happy to try and oblige you.
"Small Metal Gods" cuts right to the heart of Sylvian's disillusionment with spiritual and religious aspects - Sylvian seems to be leaning towards rationalism and that is a welcomed sign in my opinion. "Random Acts Of Senseless Violence" is about the threat of terrorism - both international and domestic - and the preparation and carrying out of such brutality. The lyrics for "Snow White In Appalachia" and "Emily Dickinson" basically are focused on a female youth who uses cocaine to fit in with her peers and then gets off the stuff and shuns those peers. "Manafon" is based on a particular curmudgeon filled with contradictions - someone who Sylvian obviously feels an affinity for.
Elsewhere, it may be more difficult to decipher the lyrics of "The Rabbit Skinner", but that should be expected since it is filled with the off kilter free association that Sylvian used for his collaborations with Derek Bailey and now continues to use on new tracks such as Five Lines. And yet like the title track, the lyrics of "The Rabbit Skinner" mainly revolve about a loathsome being, perhaps one who chooses being a loner rather than being socially adept for it is much easier - Again, Sylvian feels an affinity for that sort.
"The Greatest Living Englishman" could metaphorically be a sarcastic satire on the perception that others have of Sylvian and his bleak musical directions. But certain lines seem to indicate that it could be literally about a writer who is losing his sanity. Perhaps Sylvian feels similar affinity for this character?
As for the music, this is the first time that I have actually read another person accuse the music on Manafon of being repetitive. I personally hear that it is anything but that. But we all listen with a different set of ears, plus we all listen with our own set of preferences, so I suppose that all descriptions could be valid. But, is it really all that repetitive in your perception? Or is it more likely that the lack of structure and the random nature of the music comes across as repetitive in your mind?
Perhaps I can get back to enjoying the bigger picture now!
Well, now I feel really silly -- i guess it should have plainly occured to me that Ingrid is obviously prepping to display her terroristic skills in Random Acts Of Senseless Violence...and she is definitely the cranky old man who inspired the text to the title track...and of course, she would have been that typical babysitting teen living a dull existence who turned to drugs for some excitement and social acceptance...not to mention that she would definitely be the muse behind the self obsessed and suicidal writer who would hope to be considered the greatest living Englishman...and without a doubt she has something to do with the eventual rationalization that spiritual religions and idolatry are dead end paths....so yeah
