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Entry date: 7-9-2024 – Tunnels Into Tunnels – Letters to My Friends

Dear Friends,

 

I worked on the page a lot yesterday. I also went to the dump. If you have been reading, you know I love going to the dump in Rangeley. It’s one of the benefits of having no sense of smell, probably because I’m sure it was stinky today after all the partying in town for the holiday. I have never seen the garbage piled so high.

 

The Rangeley “Walmart” was not stocked with anything good, though. I found one book (and I was instructed via Liam that no books were supposed to be brought home) and a few relatively new Vanity Fair magazines. I’ll find something good there before I go home, though. I know it.

 

Today is more work on the site and some writing. Maybe a hiking trip, too, although the weather is a bit muggy. Way too sweaty for my tastes.

 

***** 

 

I tunneled my way to freedom, he said.

Tunneled into a tunnel and that tunnel…well…it was a good tunnel.

Where did it take you, he asked.

The tunnel?

Yes, the tunnel.

Right here.

Here?

Here.

To me?

Yes, to you.

That’s a good tunnel, they both thought.

 

***** 

 

One of my favorite things is when I hear someone mention a band in casual conversation that I don’t know anything about. It immediately makes me prick up my ears a bit and pay closer attention. Such a thing turned me on to Black Box Recorder several years ago.

 

My cousin, Ben, was talking about scoring their record on vinyl and I was unfamiliar, so he sent me a song to listen to on my own. Needless to say, I loved it. The record is pricey if you can find one, but I’ve been a frequent streamer ever since.

 

I don’t know if it has been purposely, but I haven’t really learned much about the band. I know they are a British supergroup of sorts, but other than them being members of Jesus & Mary Chain and The Auteurs, that’s the extent of my knowledge. I do like the riffs and the woman who sings lead has a great voice.

 

England Made Me from 1998 is the record I have listened to the most. The title track is a really wonderful song. If you like the moodier English stuff, you’ll dig it. The lyrics are a really sharp yet subtle dig at being English, which a lot of the lyrics seem to be in the vein of throughout. The chorus is great.

 

I think one of the coolest things about this record is that it is really charming in its subtlety. The riffs are there, and they are super solid, but they aren’t flashy at all. Simple melodies with some nimble instrumentation, but nothing that fans of big, over-the-top kind of stuff are going to be impressed by.

 

“It’s Only The End of the World” reminds me of a song that would have been on the soundtrack of a 1960s Peter Sellers’ movie. The way the vocalist sings it is right out of the type of female vocal style that he seemed to have in all those old movies. Clearly, I like this style, too.

 

The guitar work on “It’s Only The End of the World” is really nice, too. Again, totally subtle, but the riff is great. There is also some synth made to sound like a theremin or there is some actual theremin in there that I really like. “Where is the love?” Great little chorus-y bit.

 

The album is stacked up as short song/long song for the first two-thirds, too. I’m curious if that was by design or just happened that way. I’m always a bit curious about how bands come up with song orders and such. There needs to be a flow of energy, I know, but how do they do it. Do other people wonder this? Am I weird?

 

“Child Psychology” was the song that hooked me first. It’s got one of the greatest yet darkest lyrical turns of any song I can think of within it. “Life is unfair/kill yourself or get over it/life is unfair/kill yourself or get over it.” This is surrounded by some rather engaging spoken word and a killer backing track. The music is perfectly complimentary and allows the great dynamics of the words to really shine. Not for the weak at heart, though.

 

“Uptown Top Ranking” is kind of trippy and cool. I like it a lot. There is not a lot going on there for the person who likes a ‘busy’ song, but that’s what makes it great. The way the music is looped in and out is very cool.

 

“Swinging” is another one that sort of sneaks up on you with an ethereal beauty. Like the rest of the album, it’s very simple, but the vocals are so damn charming. “Kidnapping An Heiress” is another super catchy one, too.

 

“Kidnapping an Heiress” has some more nimble guitar work. I like the way this song is mixed, too. Everything has its place, and the place doesn’t overstep and cover up the other instruments. Everything has proper space.

“Wonderful Life” and “Hated Sunday” are both really good, too. Like many of the records I’ve written about this year so far, there are no wasted moments or weak songs. Every note matters. Every. Single. One.

 

***** 

 

See you tomorrow.



You amaze me, AI.

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