"An innocent guilty as hell"
David Sylvian is consuming me - I cannot express how taken I am with his music.
I have finally made it round to listening to Secrets of the Beehive and this is what I think of it, it's sort of like a review except written by a 23 year-old with a 12 year old's brain.
Secrets of the Beehive
David Sylvian once said that
"(his own music) is like being alone in a room, or worse than that. It's introspective in a way that makes people nervous. The kind of people who immediately turn on a television when they are alone in a room don't enjoy my music - it makes they terribly uncomfortable."
What a genius quote - I think what he says is very very true (I also think Morrissey could just as well say the same thing.)
Then I would wouldn't I, After all I am an introspective soul and personally I really 'get' Sylvian. Others may find him too experimental, dull ,boring depressing above all else but I love him, he gets my heart soaring. His firm deep voice singing wistfully, about angels and devils and despair in language both plain and simple as well as poetic and obscure is my idea of bliss.
Listening to his Secrets of the Beehive album I find myself most drawn to 'The boy with the gun' above all - this tale of a teenage boy avenging himself against childhood enemies is musically sound as well as stirring lyrically. Sylvian never tells us what the enemies have done to deserve their death and it is this that makes the rousing chorus so great. When Sylvian as the boy sings , "I am the law and I am the king" - he is effortlessly summoning that single mindedness that a righteous person feels without ever revealing whether the character in his tale is actually right or not in murdering these people. Makes one think about the validity of revenge.
Musically it's a very good album very mellow musically and with these killer lyrics.Not very accesible to people wanting catchy lyrics or a fun time it's all depressing stuff but I adore it.
The subject matter for songs tends to veer between:
a)Suggesting he spends a lot of time standing around looking down at masses of water wondering whether or not to jump to his death Plentiful examples are in Orpheus:
I harbour all the same worries as most
The temptation is to leave or to give up the ghost
I wrestle with an outlook on life
That shifts between darkness and shadowy light
-I wrestle between darkness and shadowy light too....*swoon*
AND
'Let the happiness in'
I’m waiting on the empty docks
Watching the ships come in
I’m waiting for the agony to stop
Oh, let the happiness in
AND
On the waterfront the rain
Is pouring in my heart
Here the memories come in waves
Raking in the lost and found of years
And though I’d like to laugh
At all the things that led me on
Somehow the stigma still remains
b) being brutal and violent like in 'The boy with the gun'
He knows well his wicked ways
A course of bitterness
A grudge held from his childhood days
As if life had loved him less
Reading down his list of names
He ticks them one by one
He points the barrel at the sky
Firing shots off at the sun
AND
'When the poets dreamed of angels'
She rises early from bed
Runs to the mirror
The bruises inflicted in moments of fury
He kneels beside her once more
Whispers a promise
“Next time I’ll break every bone in your body”
And the well-wishers let the devil in
And if the river ran dry they’d deny it happening
God hearing him sing this is chilling-he actually whispers it almost
Or c) just plain old sinister
as in the Devil's Own
The devil beats his drum
Casting out his spell
Dragging all his own down into hell
The ticking of the clock
Inexorably goes on
The howling of the stray souls of heaven
The treasures of the cove
Where the traders stored their gold
Echo voices still dead to the world
Basically all activities and concepts I approve of in songs, Thus explaining why I enjoy it as well confirming Sylvian's theory.
I sunscribe to his theory that enjoyment will correlate with your tendency to contemplate the issues that Sylvian addresses in his songs.
The music itself is very sparse here, played to perfection but forgettable, the music doesn't seem to be the real reason for the songs on this album. (Sylvian spoke of the importance of lyric writing to him in this period of time and so it seems my suggestion is a reasonable one.)
Suggesting that those people who are strangers to the issues on display - depression/questioning your life, implications of violence or who get get scared at horror films would find this unpleasant.
As the most important thing to vibe with to enjoy this album of his are his concepts.