SOUNDTRACKS FOR THE BLIND

To put this in words that any well-versed prog fan can understand, the music on 'Soundtracks for the Blind' is like a mixture of The Residents and Klaus Schulze. The Residents for their powerful ability to scare anyone through music and vocals and Klaus Schulze for his use of electronics and droning, spacey passages of music. And like both artists, this music is dark. It is demented. Michael Gira's deep vocals add to this factor. The songs on this album have a somber, hopeless atmosphere to them. 'Helpless Child', my favorite song on this album, shows this perfectly. The vocals and lyrics are mysterious and depressing. The music is lowkey and delicate. The song titles are dark too. 'I Was A Prisoner In Your Skull', 'Her Mouth is Filled with Honey' (my mental image of a woman choking on globs of honey doesn't help), and 'How They Suffer' show this well. But "Soundtracks" isn't all demented and spacey. Some of what I like to call "clear songs" like 'Yum-Yab Killers', 'All Lined Up', and 'Blood Section' seem to be rooted more in punk and traditional rock as opposed to post-rock. And some songs are just plain weird: like 'Volcano', a warped pop song. Female vocals are cheery but the music is creepy. Distorted keyboard sounds interrupt the flow of the song and make the atmosphere very uncomfortable. Close to the end the lyrics get quite disturbing although the vocals maintain cheery and innocent. 'Red Velvet Wound' is a happy folk song with strings and keyboard overpowering the original audio until it fades out. Definitely weird. With twenty-six songs, this album has much material to zone out to. This record, like many other Swans albums, reely puts you through the motions, the good, the bad, and the ugly (and this music has a fair share of the two latter!). Highly recommend this wonderful post-rock album. Prog on!

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