Forthe frontman of a well-known band to release his first solo album more than thirty years into his musical career is surely a rarity, to say the least. In fact, Paul Buchanan of the celebratedScottish trio The Blue Nile, which originated back in 1981, might be the onlysinger/ songwriter who’s waited quite so long to make his solo debut. His re-arrival with Mid Air is a thoroughly unique and sublimeaffair, easily my favorite album thus far this year, and maybe the quietestlyrical pop album ever recorded.Featuringjust a delicate piano and Buchanan’s distinctively contemplative vocals, barelyregistering above a whisper here, these songs together form the equivalent ofan intelligent lullaby for adults. Nearly all of the album’s fourteen songs are under three minutes long. The Blue Nile became famous in the U.K.for an extremely high level of quality control; the first two of their fourexquisite albums contain only seven songs each. Leave it to Paul Buchanan tocreate the world’s smallest, most intimate album.
Ornot so small, perhaps, in the case of MidAir’s deluxe edition, which includes ten extra tracks that are unavailableelsewhere, mostly instrumental versions of the album’s highlights, along withthree bonus songs. Strictly limitedto 2,000 numbered copies (mine is #589), this special box set quickly sold outand was soon going for astronomical prices of $400 and upwards on eBay. Gorgeously designed in every detail,the 7-inch box also contains a 20-page booklet with handwritten lyrics andimpromptu photographs taken by Mr. Buchanan himself.
Mid Airis certainly a kind of self-portrait, and a self-portrait in the waning yearsof middle age. It’s nocoincidence, then, that he’s the only musician who appears on the album. Song titles like “Wedding Party” and“Two Children” make it obvious what station in life Buchanan is singing about,and the mournful tone of his reminiscences also make it clear that all may nothave gone as he once expected. Therecord feels as if it’s constructed around the concepts of change and loss,especially the album’s opening title track: “The buttons on your collar / The color of your hair / Ithink I see you everywhere… / I can see you standing in mid-air.”Despitehow seamless the album sounds, “Newsroom” is among its standout tracks, soperhaps that’s why Buchanan chose that name for his independent label thatreleased the record. “Last out thenewsroom / Please put the lights out / There’s no one left alive,” Buchanansomberly sings; “No one to make love to / No one to blame.” MidAir is, without question, a dark-of-the-night album, and also anend-of-the-world album (“Half the world has gone to sleep / Half the world ison its knees / Dreaming of somewhere else”). But its songs bravely face what’s to come, rather thandespairing over it. Buchanan’smusic has always fostered a sense of wonder in the human inability to shake offthe stubbornness of the past, thereby finding a way to sustain ourselves insurviving the present.
Sonically,there are many audible touchstones that link these songs to The Blue Nile’sback catalog. They often seemlike tiny sketches for such contemporary classics as “Easter Parade” and “FamilyLife,” though written two or three decades later. It’s as though Buchanan is acknowledging his musical past whilealso gradually letting it go. Thathelps to explain Mid Air’s sense ofhushed hesitation, too, a quality that annoyed me a bit on my first listen, buteventually grew on me over time. Like all the finest works of art, the album convinces its audience toencounter it solely on its own terms, which also happens to be the artist’s wayof giving back something to us.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder