Friday 27 May 2011

My Eye in the Sky

My eye
a pearly white
inside your
soul
from a flutter
above.
Your eye
in the sy
vibrating
the surface of my skin.
You couldn't see
all those
little intricacies
when I held
you close
and the eye
in the sky made you
something
I didn't
deserve
to see.

(and time passes)

And now I see,
from above and
beyond
your eye
in my sky
and together
we are
our
eyes.

Inside.

Our.

Soul.

Saturday 21 May 2011

White Blood

Blood spills from the cut in my brow,
staining my hands,
staining my drink...

I don't think I ever properly set myself free as much as I did last night when we played our show. I let go of everything. All the control, all those thoughts that normally squeeze my brain, all those dangly body parts that remind me that I'm human... gone... I was what I truly am... I lost all my inhibitions that I ended up smashing my face into the head stock of the bass guitar (not intentional) as I was doing my seizure moves and uniting with the universe...

The blow caused quite a deep cut in my brow. I remember, when it happened, thinking, hm this could be quite bad... as the set came to an end and I crawled on the floor releasing my screams as I clasped onto the mic, I felt the warmth of blood run down my face, stain my hands... yup, this is definitely bad...

I am not human.

I am whatever I choose to be.

You can tell me what you think I am,

but I'll most likely believe differently.

So blood pours down my brow,

warming the bridge of my nose,

sweetening my fingertips,

that's what happens when you set yourself free,

you (can) get hurt.

But no matter the pain,

the scar,

the amount of blood shed,


being
          free,


if only for a moment,


is
     always worth


the suffering that comes after.

Friday 6 May 2011

Waiting

I have waited
for a long time
when the trees
would fall
and the mud
would spill.
I have waited
until you moved
those mountains
from here
and I could
see the
horizon.
I have waited
from all those things
that touched
those little
parcels
and when they
unwrapped
and something small
poked through
I knew
all the waiting
was worth it

just

for

you.


Monday 2 May 2011

Beautiful Madam floating down the Stream

It takes a lot for me to get really excited about something. Not because my seemingly cold exterior can sometimes be mistaken for a heartless black steeled warrior princess, but because there's just not enough good quality art in the underground scene worth talking about.

Until Saturday came and went that is.

On Saturday night I fell in love with a band that made me feel like I was a teenager again.

You remember those days right? Back when you were rebelling against society and eagerly trying to get home to spin your first garage punk record, hop onto your bed and flip through the CD booklet filled with a collage of lyrics and photos of true grunge rockers, as their sound poured from your cheap speakers, filling your heart with a mixture of sorrow and love and a comfort to know that you weren't alone feeling those things... ?

That's how I felt when I listened to and watched Madam.

And I'm happy to discover that the little teenage rebel heart of mine is still very much alive. Its just been hibernating, waiting for the real thing to come along and take it out of its shell.

That's what Madam are. Real. Everything about them comes from a true place that hasn't been muddied by their growing success. It's pure. It's the kind of art that is hard to come by. Because Madam don't try and distract you from their sound, they give it to you, like a gift, their hearts, literally dripping from their sleeves when you watch them play.

The magic begins with the words softly weaving out from Sukie Smith's lips, to the delicate but sometimes crunching grinds from guitarist John Robertson, to the vibrating cymbals stroked by drummer Jeff Townsin, to the guitar-sounding-bass-lines by Nick Bergin and to then finally be seduced by cellist Sarah Gill... This atmospheric sound sucks you in, and you're lost but found within an ocean of integrity.

Sitting down and pretty close to the massive speakers looming over me, I am sucked into a world of love, pain, death and re-birth. But nothing feels really morbid or really hopeful either; it is what it is, an answer somehow, an understanding and immediately I find myself connected and incredibly inspired.

Madam is a sound where you think you've heard it before but just can't quite put a finger on it. The closest I can get to is Fleetwood Mac and at times I find a hint of the album 'Rumours' bouncing on the high ends of Madam's songs. Or maybe it's the harmonies that float through the songs from time to time that remind me of Fleetwood Mac, creating that beautiful folk-like vision spiced with a psychedelic twist.

Sukie Smith's vocals are incredibly gentle, always a delicate touch within the driving force of the band's pushing atmosphere, but they're never lost, not necessarily because the sound is good tonight, I think it's more to do with the strength, power and courage, which encompasses every lyric Smith projects within her caring voice. Imagine Sukie Smith's vocals as a lilly pad delicately bobbing down the stream in the middle of spring, blossoms swirling from the trees, decorating the grass with pink petals... On its journey, the lilly bumps into the floating body of Ophelia painted by Millais... That's what Sukie Smith's voice reminds me of, a contrast between the beauty of life and death; a painting with such indescribable beauty but never too far away from pain.

The song structures of Madam carry that infamous quiet to loud syndrome, creating tension whilst enticing you. What I found surprising was the sudden endings to a lot of their songs. Once you're seduced into their world, a song would suddenly come to an end, tearing you out from its orbit. Although some of these endings did take me by surprise, I felt it kept the songs from being obvious and left you with wanting more (or maybe the ending's were natural, I just wanted them to go on forever).

And if there was a song I truly wished it to go on forever, it was their last one - a song that isn't on either of their albums that they've released... I'd go back to their gigs just to listen to that one song over and over again.

That's what happens when you're in love. You'll find there are no limits to what you will do for something or someone.

And now, being an official Madam junkie, you'll find me on my bed listening to their second album and revisit those long dreamy days as a youth...

Join me...