Overstreet says it well:
If you believe your candidate will bring out the best in America, show me that he brings out the best in you.
NPR talks to Neil Gaiman about his new novel, The Graveyard Book:
Gaiman says the idea for the novel came to him 23 years ago, when he and his family were living in England. At the time, the only safe place for his 2-year-old son to ride his tricycle was in the local churchyard.
“He would ride… his tricycle, up and down the paths and between the gravestones,“ remembers Gaiman. “And I would sit there watching… this incredibly happy kid in a graveyard.“
One day the author had a flash of inspiration: Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book told the story of an orphaned child adopted by wild animals; why not write a story about a child who is adopted by dead people?
While touring for the book, Gaiman did readings of all the chapters from The Graveyard Book, which are now available online. And you can read NPR’s review of The Graveyard Book here.
FWIW, a new Gaiman novel is always big news around Opus HQ. Via
We Are Neither Good nor Great:
America has done good things, and America has done bad things. It’s the civil authority which I am called to submit to; it is Caesar, with all the good and bad that biblically entails. As a Christian, I’m committed to doing good to this nation because it’s where God has placed me. But it’s not my ultimate home, my first love or the object of my admiration. I thank God that he has given me a government that protects me and keeps the peace. But that’s the extent of my loyalty. When I start putting country first, I have ceased to be Christian. No man can serve two masters, and America is no greater than Ba’al if I mistake it for Yahweh.
...to confuse agents of the fallen world we are called to serve with the kingdom of our Lord is to destroy our ability to serve it in the first place. You might think it looks good to wrap yourself in the flag, but in the end it’s just another dirty garment we’re using to cover our nakedness instead of taking the spotless robe Christ is offering.
...my point is that despite all this, no actor—comic or dramatic, in my estimation—carries within him the power to convey hope, aspiration, faith, and human vulnerability like Ricky Gervais can. To hell with what he personally believes; when you see the things he makes—The Office, Extras, and even the recent, mawkish but charming film, Ghost Town—you witness a talent that radiates the cardinal virtues, disarming all claims of a disinterested universe peopled with fools that function under the pretense that “truth” and “love” have value outside an objective source. What Gervais the writer/actor does artistically belies what Gervais the man believes privately. On a vastly different but still comparable plane, he can do the kind of thing Yeats can: make you understand your own view of nature—your own belief even—while not sharing it.
I recently received an e-mail from Turkish composer Erdem Helvacıoğlu concerning his new album, and so went to his MySpace page to see if I could find some samples. What I did find was an excerpt from A Walk Through The Bazaar. Released in 2003 as part of Locust Music’s “Met Life” series, which had musicians create compositions based around recordings of events taking place in their city, A Walk Through The Bazaar certainly captures the hustle and bustle that one imagines always going on in such a place. (You can also listen to an MP3 sample on his website.)
The noise of the crowds, the sing-song voices of merchants hawking their goods and wares, the sounds of countless goods and produce exchanging hands—Helvacıoğlu records it all, and then augments it with his characteristic flourishes. Layers of guitar drone and fuzz wash over the field recordings like heat mirages. The recordings are digitally processed, the conversion to ones and zeroes rendering the “music” both more distinct and more obscured at the same time. String-like passages arise, giving the piece a curiously elegant—and elegiac—tone. And a muffled beat appears beneath it all, like the heartbeat of the city, conveying the urgency, passion, and activity of the place.
The result is not unlike O’Rang’s take on “world” music: a more evocative and interesting take on the genre than most of what you’ll probably find marked as such in your local record store. It’s less an accurate audio document of the place, and more an evocation and memory of it—conveying less of what it’s like to be in a Turkish bazaar, and more what it’s like to have been there, and look back on it as through old photos and old memories. Which, in some ways, makes it even clearer and more cognizant.
Candidates hit back hard, fast against online attacks:
Philip J. Berg illustrates how hard it is to quash rumors once they spread.
The Philadelphia-area lawyer, who filed the suit against Obama’s candidacy, is aware that the Web site FactCheck.org has examined Obama’s Hawaii birth certificate and ruled it kosher.
But he doesn’t believe it.
“FactCheck.org is owned by Annenberg of Chicago, where Obama sat on the board,“ the lawyer said, dismissing the Web site’s verdict.
FactCheck.org describes itself as a “nonpartisan, nonprofit ‘consumer advocate’ for voters.“ It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jon Gruber encourages us all to listen to Tim Cook, concerning Apple’s pricing:
Other PC makers fight viciously over pricing because it’s the only factor on which they can differentiate. Few of them bother trying to make better computers—most just build bland, junky wrappers around Intel’s reference chipsets. (Notable exceptions in the laptop space include Sony and Lenovo.) None can offer better software because they all ship the same version of Windows. They’re stuck with Vista. They all seem, for whatever reason, incapable of producing Apple-level marketing and advertising. And none of them who’ve tried have been able to do their own retail stores successfully. Price is all they have.
Cook then showed two pie charts. One showing the Mac’s unit share in the U.S. retail market at 18 percent, up from “a single digit number, just a few years ago”. Cook then drops the kicker, the single key point you need to grasp to understand Apple’s Macintosh business: “And what’s more impressive than this is if you look at revenue share. Because we focus on fully-features systems, and we don’t compromise on quality, our revenue share is over 31 percent. That means that one out of every three dollars that’s spent on computers in U.S. retail is spent on the Macintosh. What a difference a few years makes.“
We’ve been having a hard time getting Simon to sleep on a regular schedule these days, which has resulted in many a sleepless night for us (and particularly Renae). I wonder if Mark Kozelek’s voice and guitar might not have better results than the various methods we’ve employed so far.
I certainly think that Simon—in his own eight-month-old way—would like to dream of rocket ships and candy showers.
American Laundromat Records’ Just Like Heaven—a tribute album to the Cure featuring Tanya Donelly, Dean & Britta, The Rosebuds, Devics, and The Wedding Present—is now streaming online (though the player only plays a portion of each song). I’m particularly fond of The Rosebuds’ cover of “The Walk” and Cassettes Won’t Listen’s cover of “Let’s Go To Bed”, but then again, I’ve always been inordinately fond of The Cure’s more dance-oriented material circa Japanese Whispers.
Renae and I don’t really follow the television season all that closely. However, we were definitely excited about the new season of Heroes. We came to show a little late, but quickly caught up via Netflix, and in the process, developed a new TV addiction. Superhero stories are a dime a dozen these days, but Heroes took the novel approach of exploring the more mundane side of superpowers—how suddenly finding out that you could bend the space-time continuum, or fly, or walk through walls might affect your normal, everyday life, your relationships, your job, and your family even as you’re trying to save the world.
It wove in such time-honored clichés as secret societies and conspiracies, fate and destiny, sacrifice, and the necessity of allowing evil to be done in order to achieve good—clichés that never really go out of style. And it did so while containing a certain sense of whimsy and fun. Which is not to say that Heroes was a whimsical series, by any stretch of the imagination. There was plenty of darkness and disturbing content, but the series never forgot its comic book origins, and primarily through the character of Hiro Nakamura, it managed a certain levity that was certainly crucial to the series’ success.
You’ll notice, though, that I’ve been speaking in the past tense. I realize we’re only five episodes into Heroes‘ third season, but so far, it’s been pretty disappointing. While the series was never lacking in ambition or epic scope, the two-hour season premiere reached ridiculous heights, cramming in plotline after plotline and revelation after revelation on a pace so relentless, it would have The Dark Knight calling time-out. And it’s never really settled down since. Indeed, it’s so exhausting, I feel like I’ve seen twice as many episodes as I actually have.
Of course, one of joys of watching Heroes was trying to follow the myriad conspiracies and mysteries, trying to make sense of them and eventually, just sitting back and enjoying the reveals. But this time out, it just feels like the writers have completely lost track of where things are going. As a result, the series continually spirals out of control—and no, time travel isn’t a convenient way to explain everything away. Like magic, there has to be rules, but it seems as if the rulebook has been tossed aside and instead, a page or two has been cribbed from Lost‘s writers’ manual circa Season 2. Worst of all, this is being done at the expense of Heroes‘ two greatest strengths: its characters and that aforementioned sense of fun that was always lurking in the background.
So far, there have been several times in each episode where Renae and I look at eachother, and ask “Why on Earth did he/she do that?“, unable to fathom yet another twist in a previously beloved character. IGN’s Robert Canning put it well in his review of the season premier:
...one major problem I have with this premiere is that some of the choices made by major characters are a bit hard to swallow. Hiro and Mohinder in particular have frustrating starts to this new volume. These two characters have been through many major life altering events, yet their actions in “The Second Coming” do not seem to reflect anything they would have learned from their past experiences. Hiro’s choices are especially annoying. Though he has seen many horrors, even the death of his father, he still acts like an exuberant schoolboy… except when a serious Hiro is needed to advance the plot.
That’s exactly right, and unfortunately, it hasn’t improved yet. Mohinder’s character arc is so antithetical to what we’ve seen and know of the character so far, it’s utterly ridiculous. And I simply can’t understand the writers’ desire to turn Hiro into a bad-ass—to quote the most recent episode (may contain spoilers)—thereby shedding any familiar traces of the nebbish-yet-beloved time traveller. Put simply, I miss the old Hiro, oftentimes the series’ one source of light and innocence—the one who struggled to understand and use his powers with a sense of hope, destiny, and even joy.
But “joy” is in short supply these days. It should be expected that things get darker this time around, what with the season’s “Villains” theme and all. But do things need to get this dark? It almost feels like there’s an unspoken competition with shows like Fringe to see how gory or disturbing things can get. (Though, in Heroes‘ defense, it’s nowhere near as execrable as J.J. Abrams’ latest.) And it doesn’t add to the show’s intensity one bit, it just gets irritating after awhile.
I suppose I should give the writers the benefit of the doubt, seeing as how they produced two solid seasons of entertainment (even Season Two, as truncated as it was, still had some of that old Heroes magic). And the final events in the most recent episode give me some hope that we might start seeing some resolution, some amount of pay-off for all of the muddling about.
But so far, as each episode spins off the tracks with yet another preposterous twist, or another time travel quandary, or the continued short-shrifting of well-established (and promising) characters, my expectations get a little lower and I find myself wondering if there’s anything else worth watching in the timeslot—or if I should just curl up with a couple of good comic books instead.
Yeah, the new MacBook and MacBook Pro are pretty cool, what with the souped up graphics, solid aluminum construction, and other nifty features.
But what really got me drooling is the new 24” LED Cinema Display. My immediate thoughts were somewhere along the lines of “I wonder how this would look sitting next to my iMac?“ But apparently, it’s only for MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro systems with Mini DisplayPort
, according to the specs page.
It’s not enough to make me want to get rid of my desktop, but it’s still awfully purty.
I’m not usually one for messing with the classics—and yes, I do consider A-Ha’s “Take On Me” to be a classic in every sense of the word—but this literal version of the video is just too awesome to ignore (bonus points to Dustin McLean for hitting those high notes).
And here’s MSNBC’s take on the meme.
Time’s Richard Corliss looks at Religulous and Fireproof:
Our texts for today are two indie films, Religulous and Fireproof, that appeal to diametrically opposed audiences. I can’t imagine that there’d be a person who could respond to both films the way their makers want. If these movies happen to be playing in adjacent auditoriums at the multiplex, exhibitors might want to set up a police cordon.
On Religulous:
As someone with a similar bio-sketch to Maher’s—a religious skeptic raised in a middle-class Catholic family—I might be expected to be a devout follower of Religulous. But I can’t fully believe in it. Maher and Charles, the director of the Borat movie, should have come up with a rowdier, more penetrating exposé than this one. The film registers decently on the amuse-o-meter, and its offensiveness has a tonic value, but it’s deficient in shape, propulsion, urgency. Look at almost any Michael Moore movie, and you’ll find the sharp personality and editorial skills that are missing in Religulous.
There’s no question that the kooks give good sound bites, and Void knows there’s been enough evil committed in the names of Jesus and Mohammed. Still, I wanted Maher to confront, and be challenged by, the better class of believers: a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, perhaps, or some articulate Episcopalian or Islamist, or comedian and noted Catholic layman Stephen Colbert. Maher seems interested less in conversation than in confrontation, so his movie is less essay than inquisition. Maybe that tone will win Religulous some conversions, but this critic remains a skeptic.
On Fireproof:
Fireproof is a Christian parable, a sermon ornamented with a story, about a firefighter named Caleb (Kirk Cameron) whose marriage with Catherine (Erin Bethea) is falling apart. This theological imperative makes the film an anomaly among current releases. But almost as daring is its tackling of that taboo movie subject, an ordinary marriage. This isn’t a weepie, where the beautiful wife is dying, or a thriller, with one spouse trying to kill the other—just two people facing the burdens of living together after the first passion has ebbed, when the idle words and gestures of the person you used to love threaten to ascend to the level of war crimes.
...In theory, Fireproof is as alien to me as Religulous is familiar. At more than two hours, the film will make those viewers restless who aren’t utterly resistant. But there’s something affecting about its artless earnestness, its aim to dramatize large portions of ordinary lives that most movies ignore. I wasn’t converted, but I was charmed.
- Year: 2006
- County: Vietnam
- Genre(s): Action, Martial Arts
- Buy It
For the past several decades, whenever someone wanted to find the cream of the martial arts film crop, they (rightly) turned to China and Hong Kong. Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chang Cheh, Gordon Liu, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao—the list goes on and on, stretching back to form an unparalleled cinematic legacy.
However, within recent years, martial arts cinema has spread throughout the globe. Inspired by the aforementioned names, and the many films tied to them, other countries have begun their own vibrant, ass-kicking cinemas which blend together the influence of Hong Kong and China with each country’s own unique martial arts offerings.
Thailand immediately comes to mind, thanks to films such as Ong-Bak and Tom Yum Goong and people like Tony Jaa, Prachya Pinkaew, and Panna Rittikrai, which showed Muay Thai kickboxing in all of this bone-breaking glory. France burst on the scene thanks to Banlieue 13, Cyril Raffaelli, and the rise of parkour. Chile has contributed Kiltro and MirageMan. And now, with The Rebel, Vietnam is stepping up to the plate, and showing off some pretty impressive moves.
It’s easy to see why The Rebel was a huge hit back home, in addition to gaining accolades from around the festival circuit. Nothing if not a tale of nationalist pride and patriotism, the film is set in 1922, when Vietnam was still under French colonial rule. Various rebel units have sprouted up throughout the country, trying to fight off the yoke of foreign rule. Aiding the French in their attempts to squash the rebels are Vietnamese secret agents, who are seen as traitors to their own people.
Cuong (Johnny Nguyen) is one of these agents. Together with his commanding officer Sy (Dustin Nguyen), he protects French officials while attempting to end the resistance. However, Cuong has become weary of the constant bloodshed, which rails against his own personal sense of justice. Although a fearsome fighter, his guilt and turmoil lead him to spend his free time either in the bottom of a bottle or in the arms of a prositute.
That all changes during an assassination attempt when Sy captures Thuy (Thanh Van Ngo), the beautiful and fiery daughter of a resistance leader. Driven to the breaking point by Sy’s torture of the young woman, Cuong escapes with her, making their way into the countryside. Along the way, Cuong discovers the truly desperate state of his countrymen. Despite Thuy’s distrust of Cuong’s apparently obtuse motives, the two slowly begin falling for eachother. But even as they get closer to Thuy’s father, Sy and his forces are closing in, seemingly one step ahead of the duo at every turn.
From a martial arts perspective, The Rebel contains more than enough action and high-flying moves to keep action junkies satisfied. Indeed, these are some of the best on-screen moves since Ong-Bak left folks picking their jaws up off the ground.
Johnny Nguyen has been a long-time Hollywood stuntman, and has appeared in numerous action films all over the globe, including Spider-Man 2, Cradle 2 The Grave, and the aforementioned Tom Yum Goong. Not surprisingly, he brings some considerable flair to the screen, combining elements of Muay Thai kickboxing, Chinese kung fu, and the Vietnamese martial art of Vovinam with a great deal of acrobatics and aerial moves. And though neither Dustin Nguyen nor Thanh Van Ngo have any serious martial arts training, they acquit themselves well in the film’s numerous fight scenes, which, like those in Thailand’s recent offerings, go for broke in the “full contact” category.
But in the film’s more dramatic moments, The Rebel stumbles a bit. The film’s heavy streak of nationalist pride does give the film a certain righteous zeal and energy, but it also means the film becomes ponderous and overwrought as characters pontificate and contemplate. And though the film’s cast handles themselves well in the fight scenes, they aren’t quite up to the same level in the dramatic ones.
While it’s clear that both Cuong and Thuy are supposed to be tortured individuals, torn between the violence around them and the burgeoning desire between them, the two leads just don’t quite have the acting chops or depth—Johnny Nguyen may look awesome when he’s doing flying kicks, but he’s only marginally better than Michael Wong in the acting department. Instead, we’re left with lots of forlorn glances and brooding stares, and little else. At times, I was reminded of some of Donnie Yen’s directorial efforts—specifically Legend Of The Wolf—films with plenty of style and action to spare, but little in the dramatic department.
The only character that stands out is Dustin Nguyen’s Sy. Torn between ambition, shame about his past, the racism of his French superiors, and some apparent mother issues, Sy may be a sadistic thug, but at least he’s an interesting and motivated one. Which isn’t something you can necessarily say about the protagonists.
Also worth noting is the films’ visual look. Shot in a lush, atmospheric style that, at times, almost has a Wong Kar-Wai feel to it—especially in the early scenes that set up Cuong’s inner turmoil—The Rebel has a very distinct feel to it, especially when compared to other martial arts films. The film’s contemplative feel, however, also stumbles, due to some curious editing choices.
While director Charlie Nguyen (brother of Johnny) wisely stands back during the fight scenes, trusting in the combatants’ grace and power to thrill rather than rapid-fire editing, the editing often feels abrupt during the slower, more dramatic sequences. Scenes are truncated and rushed, providing a further hurdle to truly conveying the characters’ inner struggles. And the editing takes on a surreal, almost experimental aesthetic during Cuong’s dream sequences—which really feels out of place when compared to everything else in the film.
Of course, most folks are going to be coming to The Rebel to see some impressive action, and in that regard, they will not be disappointed. I was half-afraid that, after watching the trailer, I had seen all of the good stuff, and happily, I was wrong. However, it’s also very apparent that, with The Rebel, Charlie Nguyen—who also co-wrote the movie with his brother—was aiming for something more than yet another martial arts film full of impressive beatdowns.
That, in and of itself, is very admirable, but the fact remains that The Rebel is able to get by on its great martial arts content for only so long before it gets overwhelmed by its patriotic fervor and emotional turmoil.
Message from a friend: you’re scaring us:
So as a plea to all concerned, but especially to those who are dismayed by the thought of an Obama presidency: by all means spend the next three weeks arguing against Obama, attacking his record, questioning his claims to represent “change” and “hope”, and all the rest of it. And then spend the next four years arguing you were right about him.
But at the same time, ask yourself whether the manner and tone in which you are doing so could be contributing to a rhetorical climate in which some nutjob with a hunting rifle decides that he is the one to whom it falls to save America by putting Joe Biden in the White House.
Thank goodness that Grady Hendrix is back in action, otherwise we wouldn’t have articles such as “Critics miss point, again”, in which Hendrix takes critics to task for downplaying the importance of action scenes in movies (specifically, the recently released Ashes Of Time Redux).
What I’m trying to say is that in a lot of movies the physicality, the action, the fighting, is the point of the film, not a useless garnish put in to appeal to the masses while the classes can ponder the subtext. For many Hong Kong movies, the actions are the emotions. The brutality of the action in Tsui Hark’s THE BLADE, the physical bond between childhood friends Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Jackie Chan in DRAGONS FOREVER and even the fight choreography in ASHES OF TIME—these movies cannot exist without the action. It isn’t a kitsch distraction… it’s the point. The story of Tony Leung’s blind swordsman is just hot air without his big battle with the bandits. He does more physically in that sequence that he did in the rest of the movie, and his physicality comes off as honest, real and earned. Previously, he just talked up a storm about the insane odds he faced in his life, but in this action scene the sheer bravado required to face down those odds is made literal and heart-breaking.
There’s this old adage that has become even more pertinent in recent years: “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.“ This is due primarily to the countless e-mails circulating the Intertubes promising instant wealth if only you turn over sensitive bank information to some foreign dignitary. However, the same logic should apply to e-mails that contain juicy information and damning info about your least favorite political candidate(s).
But if you ever receive an e-mail claiming that so-and-so is a godless heathen who wants to teach America’s schoolchildren how to participate in gay threesomes, or that they have a history of committing war crimes and want to drown cute baby seals in crude oil—you know, the kind of e-mail that you just can’t wait to send off to your family members and friends (Facebook or otherwise)—there should be a red flag or two popping up in the back of your head.
In light of the most recent round of spurious and specious rumors flying around the political campaign trail, I have a single and simple favor to ask. The next time you receive one those e-mails, spend 10 minutes on Google to check it out. Heck, just head on over to Snopes, and see what they’ve already debunked. For example:
- Barack Obama is a “radical Muslim” who “will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance”
- Barack Obama’s birth certificate contains damaging information about him
- Sarah Palin wanted to ban A Clockwork Orange, A Wrinkle In Time, Huckleberry Fin, and other books from the Wasilla, Alaska public library
- Sarah Palin posed in a U.S. flag bikini while holding a rifle
- John McCain said he was a war criminal on 60 Minutes
Surely there are more legitimate issues, complaints, and criticisms that can (and should) be raised than those that can be debunked with a simple Google search. To harp on the same lies and falsehoods is not just dishonest, it’s lazy and ignorant—and I hope to God we’re better than that.
When people think of religion on YouTube, most probably flash to “gotcha” videos of Sarah Palin’s old church or Barack Obama’s old pastor. But the video-sharing site is also being used by a wildly diverse collection of pastors, rabbis, imams, gurus, and pious laypeople… to celebrate and explain their creeds. These aren’t glitzy televangelists. In keeping with the YouTube ethos, many simply fire up camcorder and go. But low cost and infinite range, plus the mini-video’s ascent as one of the culture’s preferred ways of imbibing information, means vastly increased exposure for clerics who would otherwise have tiny flocks.
Bonus points for including “Baby Got Book”.
- Year: 2008
- Label: Utter East
- Genre(s): Shoegazer, Slowcore
- Buy It
When it came out that Au Revoir Borealis was working on a new album, I immediately had thoughts that something special was brewing on the horizon. While it had been eight years since their debut, 2000’s Tienken EP, and the bandmembers had since drifted off to various side-projects (e.g., For Wishes, The Great Fiction, and Man’s Last Great Invention), those early songs still stuck with me.
The Tienken EP showed great promise, revealing a band in love with a sound close to my heart while also hinting that Au Revoir Borealis weren’t just interested in a mere genre exercise, but also brought to bear in their music an emotional and spiritual warmth that their peers can often lack.
And now that it’s here, it’s safe to say that Dark Enough For Stars doesn’t really disappoint at all. While the album contains the same love of shoegazer/dream-pop evident in the earlier material, there’s a darker sophistication at work, as one might’ve guessed from the title (itself a play on a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote); there’s a definite melancholy amidst the swirl of sounds that lends itself to a contemplation perfectly suited for this burgeoning autumnal season.
The album begins with one of its strongest tracks. “The Winter Room” quickly establishes the band’s two great strengths: the world-weary vocals of Stephenie McWalters (which are in the same vein as Low’s Mimi Parker) and an almost preternatual control of sonics. As “The Winter Room” unfolds, it does so at solemn, almost wintry (npi) pace, so much so that you can almost see the puffs of breath as McWalters sings:
Cold and remembering
Cold but relenting
Half blind with intention
A tragic invention
Cold but remembering
Meanwhile, Steve Swartz and Tom Currie unleash layer of guitar (16 in all, according to the band’s website) in blizzard-like storms so sharp and beautiful they take your breath away even as they underscore and reinforce the slight thread of hope contained within the lyrics.
“Art Of Film” ventures into similar wintry territory, with amazing and searing guitar dynamics that owe as much to Alan Sparhawk as they do to Neil Halstead. Meanwhile, McWalters sings of cinematic yearnings backed by Swartz and Currie’s haunting vocals.
However, all impressive guitarwork aside, the band proves equally affecting when such things are minimized and stripped away, as they are on “The World Is Too Much With Us” (which just might be my fave track on the album).
Some might call the song plodding, but it’s plodding in the same a Hou Hsiao-Hsien film is plodding. True, the song moves at a glacial pace, but is also full of rich detail, which is especially evident when listening to it on headphones. The layers of female vocals (courtesy of McWalters and Trespassers William’s Anna-Lynne Williams), the softly shimmering guitars, the hum of a Hammond, and the drums’ distant, ominous rumble all come together in a captivating and haunting manner.
Of the album’s twelve tracks, five of them are instrumentals, and it’s here where the album stumbles, if only a bit. Having listened to the album many times, it’s become increasingly apparent that McWalter’s vocals are the heart and soul of the band’s music, grounding the impressive sonic dynamics with a touch of human warmth, longing, and grace. When she’s gone, or subsumed by the band’s more ambient moments, as is the case on “Bella Ballerina” and “Stella, My Brightest Star”, the results may be pretty enough but they do lack a certain “grit” that her vocals bring to the proceedings.
For example, “Stella…“ drifts along effortlessy on gauzy layers of guitars, Rhodes piano, and violin, and while there are vocals (courtesy of McWalters and Jessica Bailiff), they’re of the wordless variety. All told, it sounds like a lengthy intro for a Sigur Rós track, one just waiting for Jónsi Birgisson’s falsetto to come floating in.
All of which may sound like an odd critique—until you get to the next track, that is. “The Key” is much more stripped down and less ambient than “Stella…“, but McWalters’ voice (which adopts an almost Celtic lilt at times) and lyrics (which speak of magic and wonder in almost Narnian terms) bring to the track a certain mystique that “Stella…“, for all of its impressive atmospherics, just doesn’t quite achieve.
But this, as I said before, is a minor stumble in an album as rich and rewarding as this one. With Dark Enough For Stars, Au Revoir Borealis have handily transcended the clichés of shoegazer (and slowcore, for that matter), crafting an album rich with emotion and artistry. And one which, if you read the band’s account of the recording process, was fraught with difficulty. As the band puts it on their website:
And so it is that this recording represents our collective joys and sorrows and the things that we have had to overcome to create it. It stands as a marker and as proof that all is not lost and that there is hope in knowing that each day breaks anew—that one can rest in the hope of knowing that in the middle of all darkness, beauty can be found. And that there is a treasure to fight for and hold on to in those stars that pierce through the inky blackness of our longest nights.
It’s a statement that, if you’re prone to cynicism, might seem hopelessly precious… until you actually make your way through Dark Enough For Stars. And then you realize that, not only is such a sentiment truer than true, but that Au Revoir Borealis have created for it a very fitting soundtrack.
Subvert Marketing, Inc. has put together a nice tutorial on building a banner ad management system with ExpressionEngine and Google Analytics.