Chocolate Flowers

So it’s taken me awhile to get to, but here it is…

I have to admit I read the lyrics before listening to the song, and their earthy quality was intriguing but initially put me off.  I think it was Schubert (or Schumann, I can never remember which) that said something to the effect of “Once the eye has ben led the ear can no longer judge independently.”  Well, I’d like to prove that view wrong (for a change).

I really like this recording.  The style of the vocals reminds me of a combination of Bjørk and Regina Specter, a lilting, crackly stutter, incidentally mirroring the deteriorated magnetic tape intro. The tone of the lyrics and vocal performance combine to convey the inner turmoil of simultaneous desire and revulsion to the trivialities of conventional domestic life.  This is a perfect example of a vocalist whose “flawed” instrument effectively communicates the emotions of the song, much more so than someone more virtuosic. 

I haven’t looked up anything about the artist in general yet because I want to see if I can guess their country of origin…Iceland?  The style of production on the recording reminds me of group called múm who put out some records on Fat Cat with a very similar production style.

This is an intimate moment of a recording, a very quiet and contemplative space.  It’s easy to imagine the author of the song sitting in the corner of a room, perhaps gazing out a window, watching a mother and child play in the yard. This causes her to reflect on the conventional model of common living, with equal parts longing and distaste, with bitter tinges of jealousy and contempt lurking just beneath the surface.

And it seems the jury is still out on this construct, for the author, for you, for me and for generations past and yet to come.

EDIT:  I hope to post a song before the end of the day…just under the wire for the week!