Sunday 9 January 2011

From a cowardly whisper to a helium-pitched scream

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It can be really strange, those everyday moments of a fairly humdrum life that we just happen upon, and how such incidents can sometimes provoke a startled, misplaced memory. You blink, you witness, you remember - with an audience or not. An example: I was in the local supermarket yesterday with my junior companions in hand and witnessed a woman accidently dropping a jar of 89p pasta sauce and as it hit the polished fawn tiles and exploded upwards in a flurry of, I think, bolognese sauce (with added peppers) and recycled glass, she screamed. I mean, she really fucking screamed. And for that exact moment, as all around hid and cowered, I both saw and, especially, heard Ali Shaw, from Cranes, circa 2001, singing to me from a stage of pretty much my own making. It was that kind of intense, helium-fuelled nasal pitch delivered from down a deep, deep, empty well in a place called Bright Falls. But then again, I suppose, that's Aldi for you.
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Cranes - 'Flute Song' (Live in London) (4.22)
Cranes - 'Inescapable' (2.48)
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All things Starblood. Buy this.
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2 comments:

  1. 'and as it hit the polished fawn tiles'.

    You cant possibly have been in Aldi comrade....

    But seriously. That's what I love about you. The most unique happening inspires a song.....and its never anything obvious either. It is so good you're back writing again.

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  2. It very much was Aldi, comrade! The one on High Street is very classy you know ;) And thanks for your very kind words. There is something about Ali Shaw's "unique" vocals that I just love, especially on those early EPs on the Dedicated label.

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