A Flutter & Some Words

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A Flutter & Some Words

Postby Hawk on Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:08 pm

Opening a topic in anticipation - I am really looking forward to Ingrid's new album! According to her website, the release date is now January 26th (which...coincidentally...is my first day off work this year...so I know what I'll be doing :D ). There is also a new sample on her website but I'm not quite sure what song it is. It sounds very nice anyway. There is a video of snow. Ingrid seems to like snow. I like snow too but now it has turned all slushy and muddy outside it is not so pretty. I also have to walk in it for 20 minutes every day to get to work....not good when running late....or in a mood to get sidetracked by gorgeous whitest of white gardens with beckoning patches to place a footprint.... Anyway, anyone else interested to hear the album? I know there have been discussions about it before but I wanted to start an official thread.

It's funny, listening to the samples, there is still something that reminds me of David's work but I'm not quite sure what.....
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby missouriman on Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:05 pm

The track is called "Returning to seed" and is on the new release. I know this record will be unlike anything David did. Lorenzo Scopelliti did most of the music and he has his own sound too. Of course Ingrid had her ideas of what she wanted. All those years of ideas waiting. It will be well worth buying and I will get my copy asap.
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby Hawk on Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:59 pm

Hm I deleted my old post because I didn't like it and was hallucinating purple moths at the time... :oops:

But WOWWW Ingrid has new stuff on her website!!! And the samples sound so beautiful! I have been preoccupied with novel-writing and watching candles all day but now I am going to listen to this... Big decision is whether to buy the CD or to download it.... much as I love having a disk with a case and artwork etc. I am trying to cut down on material possessions...
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby Hawk on Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:10 pm

(post deleted...I write too much)
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby Hawk on Thu Jan 28, 2010 3:50 pm

Ookay I know I should probably be writing this in an Ingrid forum...or maybe not at all...but I am in the habit of only feeling comfortable in one internet space at a time, and at the moment this is it.

I have now LISTENED TO THE ALBUM! *proud hawk* and realised that missouriman is right - it is VERY different to what David would produce. There are so many needles sticking in me transferring comparisons between the two but I don't want to delve into that too much as they are very different artists. But I can't help relating them in a way one would relate two teachers who were once at the same school. Manafon taught me simplicity, rawness, storytelling... A Flutter And Some Words taught me richness, expression and artistic intent... I like them for different reasons, almost completely the opposite reasons.

'By The Water' is certainly the most catchy, and probably the most 'complete' track, very much like the feeling I got from 'Black Water' on RTC (okay the comparisons stop now). I think Ingrid mentioned that there was something 'seasonal' about the album and I definitely get that impression. I saw, possibly, a similar landscape throughout in varying seasons and times. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess at which tracks were in which seasons but I'm pretty sure 'Dreamland' is winter. It has echoes of Vivaldi in the opening.

As I listened, I don't know why but my eyes were drawn to the bright spotlights on my kitchen ceiling. In changed visibility, I watched dust particles float and those weird segmented molecular structures dance and disappear out of sight. Sometimes I saw the veins on the inside of my eyes, sometimes black pools and diamond-like patterns shape-shifting to the waves of sound and music.

I think Ingrid is better at writing poems than lyrics...her spoken words seem somehow more profound but her rhyming scheme is a little irritating. I hate to say there are 'better writers' because I don't like being judgemental but I think the importance lies in the essence of the song rather than the words.

I didn't like Tightrope on first listen...which annoyed me somewhat because it is a very different track to the rest and therefore the predicted response would be to dislike it...and I hate doing predictable things. I also love the first half of Terrible Woman but after "but you need her still" all the subtle shades turned to bright colours and I was quite disappointed (heh but who cares - it was probably done for that specific reason, I just happen to prefer greyscales).

There is something intimitely wonderful about Path of Rain... as a personal reflection, it immediately made me recall a scene from the film version of Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando' where the protagonist transitions from being male to female. I got a similar sweeping sort of feeling from one body to another, and yet a dawning of fulfilment that they were both essentially joined in spirit. It made me feel connected.

Returning To Seed is my impulsive favourite. I think it may also be a winter song... A lot of the tracks make me think of snow but this one in particular makes me think of A LOT of snow! The video probably helped...

I'm going to make another hesitant comparison now but I remember when I first heard Brilliant Trees I thought David's phrase "back to the soil" was an especially odd one and one I'd never heard before or since...until Ingrid says it in Returning To Seed - as an echo at the beginning. It made me think again what a strange disjointed phrasing is it... but I like it and I guess it means a lot whatever it is. I have an urge to try to draw it...

I love the childrens' voices in No Goodbyes. It makes me nostalgic. I can't believe I will never be a child again...I somehow can't believe it. I used to dream of adulthood but I never thought it was permanent... I'm at a point right now that seems fluid but soon I will reach a point where children seem a different species altogether. The images I get for this track are particularly beautiful.

The track Isobel is most touching. A song I think my mother would play for me if I hadn't found it first! :-)

Overall, I love it and think I will love it even more. It is not a wordly album, or perhaps anything that seeks to break new barriers, but it is a summary of one very beautiful person stretching their branches, and all the leaves and blossoms on the end growing and falling away.


Um..........anyone else's thoughts??
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby inkinthewell on Thu Jan 28, 2010 5:27 pm

Well! It sure didn't leave you indifferent, and that's only good.
I haven't ordered nor heard much from Ingrid's album. I'm not very interested in it now, don't know about the future. But your review sort of tickled my curiosity...

Hawk wrote:soon I will reach a point where children seem a different species altogether.


I bloody well hope you don't! There's nothing as bad and embarassing, from my point of view, as hearing adults speak about (their) children as if they were aliens, totally uncapable of understanding them, as if they'd never been children themselves. Grow up we must, but that's no reason to let the spark of childhood die out.
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans - JL 1940-1980
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby Hawk on Fri Jan 29, 2010 6:09 pm

Oo Thank you.

inkinthewell wrote:I bloody well hope you don't! There's nothing as bad and embarassing, from my point of view, as hearing adults speak about (their) children as if they were aliens, totally uncapable of understanding them, as if they'd never been children themselves. Grow up we must, but that's no reason to let the spark of childhood die out.


Hmm that may be true...I guess I meant it more as a contemplation than a firm belief. I see people around me who fit that description...not understanding their kids... but I wonder if it's more that they're trying so hard to be 'parents' not 'friends' that they almost have to forget... hm I guess because they are older than me I am worried it is an inevitable future... I wonder if some people have children so that they can learn what childhood is again... which is strange because then they are learning from someone who is also learning... I will never have children so either that memory will dissolve or I will preserve it somehow, like in art or music. But I have a lot to ponder...

I am writing a story about a man who becomes a ghost and goes back in time to comfort himself as a boy when he is sad. The boy learns that the ghost is the only one he can trust. However when he grows up the ghost disappears. Of course he then realises that the ghost is himself, and he wants to travel back to tell his boy-self this........however there is a block in time and the man cannot travel backwards any more. Deep down all he hears is his child self crying inside of him and he despairs that he cannot go back and comfort it. Then one day a ghost appears to him and asks "why is the child crying? and why are you still crying for that very reason?" and he begins to follow a path searching for the end to sadness, until one day the stream of time is open again. This time, however, he only chooses to go back and watch, and through watching he realises there were so many other things to life then than just crying. He travels back to a specific point in his life where he had almost given up hope and asks a very important question.

And the story goes on....... I have many different ideas for an ending but your comment made me think of a new angle in which to take it next. Thank you! :D And......sorry for having such arduous thoughts... :oops:
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby Simonp on Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:24 pm

I downloaded A Flutter on Friday for my drive to Glasgow. Apart from the dreadful title..I actually quite like some of the music. It's her voice I find difficult to like. AND her poetry is dreadful. All snow, winter and windows...Highlights if they can be called that are the obvious By The Water, and Returning to Seed. i don't think I could listen to the album a great deal but it might be okay if some background music is called for if I've got friends round for a natter...

Compare it to Manafon and it's all a bit nursery to be honest..an unfair comparison and one that shouldnt be made but its inevitable people will always connect her to Sylvian.
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby baht habit on Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:04 pm

I'm pleasantly surprised at how good this new release actually is. There is much more acoustic oriented instrumentation on a good number of the tracks and most of the orchestration is pretty solid. I suppose that I was expecting more emphasis on the electronic aspect rather than the organic nature which is prevalent. There seems to have been a huge amount of growth in her approach since her debut and even compared to the unreleased attempt with Sylvian from the latter half of the 90s. She deserves some credit for that alone since an easy way out would have been to simply adhere to the formulaic electronica sounds which remain somewhat stylish these days. At the moment, my most preferred tracks to listen to are Returning To Seed, Tightrope and Dreamland.
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby missouriman on Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:05 pm

Simonp wrote:I downloaded A Flutter on Friday for my drive to Glasgow. Apart from the dreadful title..I actually quite like some of the music. It's her voice I find difficult to like. AND her poetry is dreadful. All snow, winter and windows...Highlights if they can be called that are the obvious By The Water, and Returning to Seed. i don't think I could listen to the album a great deal but it might be okay if some background music is called for if I've got friends round for a natter...

Compare it to Manafon and it's all a bit nursery to be honest..an unfair comparison and one that shouldnt be made but its inevitable people will always connect her to Sylvian.


New Hampshire is a state that is ONLY snow and winter for about 5 straight months of every year and makes the benign snow fall of the UK insignificant. It is all consuming. Those relentless winters leave deep marks on a person's psyche and touch every aspect of your life. The cold is BRUTAL. She lives in a 200 year old home and life is a gift if you make it through these winters. Her poetry is decidedly feminine. I have yet to get my cd in the mail. But I know it will be fine.
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby Simonp on Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:01 pm

missouriman wrote:
Simonp wrote:I downloaded A Flutter on Friday for my drive to Glasgow. Apart from the dreadful title..I actually quite like some of the music. It's her voice I find difficult to like. AND her poetry is dreadful. All snow, winter and windows...Highlights if they can be called that are the obvious By The Water, and Returning to Seed. i don't think I could listen to the album a great deal but it might be okay if some background music is called for if I've got friends round for a natter...

Compare it to Manafon and it's all a bit nursery to be honest..an unfair comparison and one that shouldnt be made but its inevitable people will always connect her to Sylvian.


New Hampshire is a state that is ONLY snow and winter for about 5 straight months of every year and makes the benign snow fall of the UK insignificant. It is all consuming. Those relentless winters leave deep marks on a person's psyche and touch every aspect of your life. The cold is BRUTAL. She lives in a 200 year old home and life is a gift if you make it through these winters. Her poetry is decidedly feminine. I have yet to get my cd in the mail. But I know it will be fine.


Decidedly feminine does not necessarily mean it is good and how can you be so sure it will be fine?
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby missouriman on Mon Feb 01, 2010 9:50 am

'Decidedly feminine' is best coming from a woman and at last check Ingrid was. Just because she was married to him doesn't mean she has to sound like him. And if anybody really expected Sylvian lite then more fool them. This is NOT a criticism of you Simon ok. Just one of those inflammatory blanket statements that are par for the course on forums.
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby missouriman on Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:29 pm

If anyone is interested you can read extra liner notes on ingridchavez.com that did not appear on the cd sleeve. David Sylvian was asked to sort the track listing and was also consulted on the mixes by Ingrid. She pays him a very nice thank you also.
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby digimarsh on Mon Feb 08, 2010 4:50 pm

Not for me lads ,i am afraid.I never liked the vocal bits she did on sylvians records, i find her positively limp.Her breathlesss style of vocal irritates me.Sorry ,and all that
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Re: A Flutter & Some Words

Postby Hawk on Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:16 pm

To be honest, I was expecting to have a similar reaction to you digimarsh, and when I put myself in a certain frame of mind I know what you mean.... but for some reason her voice has grown on me.

In terms of the 'comparison' in my previous posts, I apologise I didn't mean to compare her to David in that way - I sometimes forget that they were married. To me, they are just connected in a way that they worked together closely, as artists, and when you know someone purely because of their collaboration it is interesting when their work is taken 'out of the blend,' so to speak. I'd never heard Ingrid's solo work prior to this but now I have listened to it I can appreciate her more as an independent artist. I am learning all the time. Also, Manafon and A Flutter and Some Words are the only two albums that I have ever actively awaited...everything else in my collection I've discovered at least a year after its release... so there was a similarity in anticipation, and they both happened to be released at a similar time, so I could almost review them simultaneously.

That said, it's good to read her additional notes on the album. What a great project.

I must say it continues to surprise me and I am growing ever so fond of it. It's become music I immediately put on when I feel I need to peace out. It's very fast acting. My new favourite is The First Darshan.
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