So last week was Eighteen Visions Week, and it went really, really well, like REALLY well!
By the end of the week the Facebook page was being talked about by 86 people and the page itself garnered quite a good amount of new likes, but most importantly I was able to get the different interviews actually out there for folk to enjoy that weren’t part of the site or didn’t follow Ghostchant; the James Hart interview in particular got a huge increase in views and has become one of the most popular posts I’ve made on the blog so far, so I’m glad that people are at least getting this put to them and being able to read them, which after all is really the entire point of my interviews and who I choose to interview.
It was a great success, though I didn’t have time to actually write my retrospective which was something I’ve wanted to do for so long (since I started the blog) and I hoped last week I would finally get to crack it but sadly I didn’t, and the interview with Javier Van Huss, sadly I haven’t gotten anything back yet but whenever I do, it’ll be put up (like every interview) straight away for your prying eyes.
Now, onto the point of this post: this week’s Track Of The Week, which if you’re a follower of the blog you’ll know what that means, but if your new, simply every week I pick a song that I haven’t been able to stop listening to all week and I review it (what I think about it, what it means to me, the lyrics, the sounds, that kind of stuff). I’ve always said I don’t want to pigeon-hole this blog into a metalcore blog, or a heavy music blog or even a rock music blog; I have quite a wide range of musical taste, I mean heavy music (and metalcore) is at the core and heart of it all but sometimes there are songs that don’t fit into that genre that I still fall in love with. This week I’m stretching that boundary further than I think I have (and probably will), but I just had to choose this song, for the last week I have literally not been able to turn this track off, no matter what, it’s been in my head since the second I heard the first beat.
This week I’m gonna tackle reviewing a song that’s cut from the same cloth as the 80’s synth-pop stuff (Depeche Mode for example); College – “A Real Hero”.
So yeah, why pick a song that is almost in stark opposite to what I’ve spent 3 months writing about? Honestly I’m not too sure, for the last maybe 7 months to year I’ve become really interested in the whole 80’s New Wave sound, with bands like Depeche Mode, The Cure, Joy Division and Echo And The Bunnymen being the front running bands that I was super interested in. The entire sound was just something that appealed to me; every song seemed to create this mood and atmosphere and for me personally, when a song creates an over-arching sense of tone that transcends the sonics and does something to the listeners’ head, that really gets me excited and immersed.
“A Real Hero” blows the dust off this technique and applies it so well, and rather than heading for a tone of sadness or depression like a lot of New Wave/snyth-laden tracks, College goes down the route of happiness and joy; the whole track embraces a sound that has this feeling of triumph and celebration, even the lyrics (which I’ll look at it in bit) are about a positive and joyous event.
The synth and electronica drive of the song, though poignant and imperative, for me the most exciting aspect of the track is the vocals; not to get too soppy, but they are beautiful and help the backing instrumentals reach high and hit that feeling and tone that the song strives for. They’re soft and have this element of vulnerability that I think is easy for the listener to connect with and again helps immerse them. Remember, this is coming for a guy that listens to primarily metalcore and heavy rock music; so for me to feel and even border-line get emotional with this song, it obviously does the trick.
Lyrically the song is about a famous airplane pilot, Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III, that successfully was able to pull-off an emergency landing with a malfunctioning plane into the New York Hudson River, saving 155 lives in the process.
This is obvious by the multiple references made (“One hundred fifty-five people or more”, “All safe and all rescued”) but it also seems to focus just on the simple idea of not necessarily doing something “heroic” but something “good”, for others and the courage it can take to do something that’s selfless; again not to get too soppy or personal about stuff, but this totally strikes me hard (immersing me in the song even more).
Probably the biggest thing about this song is that it was used in the film ‘Drive’, and featured on its soundtrack. It’s actually how I heard it; last week one of my flatmate’s put on some music (probably cause she was sick of hearing Eighteen Visions) when we were away to start baking, and seriously when it started I immediately looked at her and gasped “what the hell is that?!!” and she legit looked at me like I was mad or something, and kept on questioning if I was being sarcastic.
I’ve not actually seen the film yet (hope to watch it soon) but one thing I really enjoy is when a film gets an exclusive soundtrack that isn’t just a collection of previously-released songs but songs that actually make sense and add to the experience of the film, and with what I’ve heard the ‘Drive’ soundtrack does exactly this.
I’ll admit that I’m probably not the most savvy person to review a snyth-pop track, but I do know what I like and I know what I don’t; and I really like this track. Like I said, when I told my friend I was totally into the song she was shocked and took it as a joke; thing is, in reality the current wave of metalcore and other heavy bands actually grew-up on this stuff and it wasn’t just the Metallica’s and Black Sabbaths, the Depeche Mode’s and The Cure’s were as big as an influence as the metal bands.
Obviously College had heard their fair share of 80’s New Wave and understood it when going into recording this; the lyrics and vocals are just as important as manufacturing this idea of an atmosphere, even if it’s just for 3 minutes, the listener is ‘in’ the song and reacting to every beat and every high-pitch chime.
All in all, I suppose I can just say not to dismiss this track (or any song for that matter) because of your “music taste” or what you normally listen to; give the song a listen, you never know you just might fall in love with it like me, and find a song that fills a hole inside.
"A Real Hero" is available at the link below, where you can buy the official single version via iTunes, but its also available for pretty much any site the sells anything these days.
If anyone is interested in taking the reigns for next week or any week, hit me up on the Facebook page.
No comments:
Post a Comment