“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...
Last year, I listened to a podcast introducing artists who sound similar to another artist to help lesser-known artists expand their fan bases just to hear some takes that the commentators had to say about another artist I was preparing to post about. I didn't actually end up writing about that artist, but I inadvertently discovered a few new artists to add to my AppleMusic library, one of which was Filipina-British singer-songwriter Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus , better known by her stage name beabadoobee . BUILDINGS AND RUST. With over 17 million monthly listeners on Spotify, bedroom pop singer beabadoobee opened for Taylor Swift last year on a leg of the Eras Tour. Laus is just one of many artists that Swift was probably introduced to through a rumored ex, The 1975 ’s Matty Healy . Born in Iloilo City in 2000 and relocating to London with her family at the age of three, Laus was influenced by indie rock from an early age. At the ag...
Writing a song that an entire nation sings for a year or more is no small feat. In 2018, the K-pop band iKon released a single that was hummed by the elderly and even banned in some elementary schools for what teachers and administrators said was inappropriate lyrics, but was really about the students singing it excessively. Unlike some K-pop bands, iKon's members are often involved with the songwriting process. Kim Han-bin (김한빈), better known by his stage name B.I , took inspiration from the ending scene from the 2016 musical La La Land when writing iKon's " Love Scenario ," the song that was called "The Song of the Year" in South Korea in 2018. THE LOVE SCENARIO WAS CREATED AND NOW THE LIGHTS ARE OFF. Spoiler alert: In the final scene of La La Land, Mia ( Emma Stone ) and Sebastian ( Ryan Gosling ) play out a "love scenario" which plays to a beautiful instrumental fantasia. In this fantasy, Mia and Sebastian imagine themselves together, patch...
Comments
Post a Comment