“Da Vinci Riot Police” by George Ezra, Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
Put on George Ezra's Wanted on Voyage, and you hear a modern folk-rock record with some pop appeal. Ezra immediately draws listeners in with "Blame It on Me." Throughout the record, we hear sparse rock 'n'roll electric guitars and rhythmic acoustics, but Ezra isn't afraid to add keys or synthesizers for effect here and there. But while the instrumentation is good on the record, what stands out most is Ezra's deep voice. Coming from a time in the '00s when a high voice was everything for pop and rock music, George Ezra's bass-baritone range reminds listeners of old-time music, sung by old-time singers who are either elderly or who have died long ago.
A statue of Paddington Bear at Paddington Station, London. From Flickr. Photo by Martin Pettitt.
IN EVERY SONG YOUR FATHER SUNG. But then watch the music videos or catch a live performance from George Ezra's first album cycle, Wanted on Voyage, and you see the source of that distinct, sexy, old-sounding voice coming from a baby-faced blond-haired, blue-eyed (and tall) kid. In 2014, when Ezra released Wanted he was just 20 years old. He began a year before, playing at Glastonbury Festival and releasing an EP, but Wanted on Voyage was his major breakthrough with the lead single, "Budapest" charting internationally, including in the United States. The title of the record comes from children's book series Paddington Bear. Paddington has a sticker on his suitcase that says "Wanted on Voyage" when he turns up at Paddington Station in London. Like Paddington, Ezra's album is inspired by his travels. For Ezra, his voyage included buying a European train pass that allowed him to wander all over the continent, exploring Berlin, "Barcelona," Amsterdam, "Budapest," and in today's song Milan, where he witnessed something strange when looking at a statue of Leonardo da Vinci.
Statue of Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Italy. "Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas" Source.
EUROPEAN SONIC BOOM, ELECTRIC CHAPEL / BOOK A ROOM. George Ezra tells the story of the penultimate song from On Voyage, "Da Vinci Riot Police" while on tour in New Zealand to Vikki Anderson. Ezra recalls looking at the statue of da Vinci and suddenly a riotous parade started marching down the street with "flares and shouting." The police showed up, and Ezra said that "da Vinci looked after me for a bit." Besides being envious of how seemingly easy it was for UK citizens to hope on a train to Milan like New Yorkers can just drive to Florida to visit their grandparents, the story behind "Da Vinci Riot Police" reminds me of my non-European travels--particularly when I'm alone--and something weird happens. One minute you find yourself off the beaten path and the next you meet a stranger or you see a ritual that seems unreal. You struggle to think about how you would describe it. And after it happened, if you were alone, you wonder if it really happened or if it was a hallucination or even a dream implanted later? If you were with a friend, you recall it together, but when you tell the story, you can see the disbelief in the listener's eyes. You've gotta be there to see it, I guess.
On folklore , Taylor Swif t’s essential fall album, the singer delves into the craft of storytelling. While many of Swift’s songs tell stories, until her eighth studio album, most of those stories were about herself. Tales about “ betty ,” James, and Augustine could be a metaphor for the singer but it was quite refreshing to hear about other people in towns created by the singer. With Swift returning to making anthemic pop hits, the lowkey double album cycle has come and gone. “ The Last American Dynasty ” is a song on folklore in which Swift tells the story about the previous owner of her house. The song tells the story of the wealthy widow to the heir of the Standard Oil fortune, Rebecca “Betty” Harkness. It’s a kind of country song, romanticizing its subject and drawing parallels between Harkness and Swift, setting them up as outsiders unable to fit into the social classes they happened to belong to. THERE GOES THE MADDEST WOMAN THIS TOWN HAS EVER SEEN. Taylor Swift has b...
This July, as many American have celebrated Independence Day, I think it's important to look at different versions of the American Dream. Lana Del Rey 's 2012 record Born to Die examines " the dark side of the American dream " at times. While America is starting look more like it's Puritanical heritage with a little too much Flannery O'Connor and Homer Simpson pseudo-religiosity, the Northeastern secular world that Del Rey paints on her debut album seems like a world apart from a neo-conservatism. Del Rey's America is the America of Hollywood. It's New Yorkers who vacation Upstate in the summer and attend cocktail parties on the weekend. If they go to church, it's infrequent and not an evangelical version of Christianity. It's the America of the Jazz Age and the fifties. ALL MY FRIENDS TELL ME I SHOULD MOVE ON. But it's also the America of Mad Men. Del Rey has been criticized for sometime avowing an opposition to feminism. In 2014, the ...
This summer Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga made a huge comeback with “ Die with a Smile ,” which became a global number 1 hit . Last month Mars released another collaboration, this time with ROSÈ , the latest member of the girl group BLACKPINK to go solo. “ APT. ” marks Mars’ first K-pop collaboration, the singer was quite big in South Korea before teaming up with a member of one of the currently biggest girl groups. Just like “Die with a Smile,” “APT” has been a global smash hit, topping charts around the world, including South Korea and peaking at number 8 on Billboard ’s Hot 100 and number two on the UK singles chart. RANDOM GAME. BLACKPINK has been regarded as the biggest girl group in the world. The group, however, hasn’t made new music since 2022. Last year, all four members of the group re-signed their contracts with YG Entertainment and are expected to release new music next year. This year, however, has been about solo activities. This year has seen massive hits from 3 of ...
Comments
Post a Comment