Music Plus Fire - “Equals Exploding Heart”
Here’s your starter for 10.What is music? Well? I’m going to need an answer? It’s not an easy starter in any circumstance so don’t feel too down heartened. For thousands of years Western Civilisation has promoted the use of words etymologically related to the Greek word mousike. (Literally translated as the muse)Native English speakers will recognise the term music, in Spanish it is known as musica, French as musique and so on. In the society that houses our understanding the list is almost infinite, yet there are some nations around the world who do not use a single word to define the concept we know as music. This, in all its glory, is my opening gambit.
Where barriers remain in language and territory, the concept we know as music finds no such quarrel in allowing understanding to flow from every orifice of the beholder. In my humble opinion, music at its purest is an experience fostered with the intention of encouraging a synaesthesia between the five senses. It is the creation of an unrivalled unification of heart, mind, body and soul.
Now that we have cleared that up where do Music Plus Fire come into things? Well, the link is elementary in nature and fundamental in design. For me, the best way to test the aesthetic value of an album has always been to lie down, close my eyes and see where the music takes me. I accept that this may not be everyone’s cup of Earl Grey and that Earl Grey might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but you get the idea. However you listen to music, I dare you not to be swept away by the synaesthesia mustered in this expertly crafted, 25 minutes short, LP. Whatever the numbers, and we’ll get to those later, this collection of songs has the power to unify mind with body, heart with soul and even cats with dogs if they tried.
The curse of the perfectionist perhaps; many albums, where no sound is accidental, no beat off, no event unanticipated, have the underwhelming ability to nullify the senses and fail in their proposed capture of the imagination. Fortunately, “Equals Exploding Heart” does not fall into this category. It almost appears as if the recording has a fourth dimension. One that nostalgic music fanatics may fondly attribute solely to the vinyl experience. It is this facet that permits the senses to absorb the strum of each chord and the resonance of each haunting vocal with a natural ease that should be commended.
The most intoxicating aspect of the album is that it forces you to feel emotions hidden deep inside and before that particular moment had no reason to feel. Music Plus Fire invite you into a world of melancholy and harmony so perfectly balanced that the listener can only be swept off their feet. To be unaffected is to fail to understand life and its idiosyncrasies. Delicately harmonised and supported by a solid rhythm section, the lyrical significance of this album is as poignant and touching to the common man as it was a decade ago. Par example; the evocative lyrics prominent in, but not restricted to, the final track, Can’t Wait To Leave This Town, cannot fail to touch a social nerve and highlight the thoughts of any man whether he be 16 or 46.
“Seems like you only smile now when you’re high, or intoxicated. It’s not that you’re sad or lonely. It’s just you’re not satisfied.”
If Music Plus Fire truly cannot wait to leave this town then it will be a loss to all around and a massive gain for the wider Western World. Music this beautiful deserves to be heard in a world that struggles to articulate its emotions. The most distressing or emotional experience for this listener is that he cannot often bring himself to listen to The Fire Inside Of Me, for fear his emotions may be taken to a place from which he may never return. If you are struggling to express yourself in a musical world devoid of true character then look no further for inspiration than this album. If you seek refuge in the compassion of others and the consolation that someone has been there before then, again, look no further. Music Plus Fire have been around for longer than they care to remember and are fortunate to be able to articulate our shared consciousness with a grace and elegance rarely seen and seldom shared.
Jude Quinn – Lies writer, inspirational pianist, terrible human being
No comments:
Post a Comment