 |
|
|
Blackfield
Blackfield
|
|
|
|
|
An extraordinary thing happened.
I work as an accounting person at a department store that has seen a sudden increase in our Jewish community’s interest. Whole families dressed in the obvious, traditional styles of yarmulke (for the men), black cloth hair caps, long black skirts for the women even in the hot, humid Jersey summers, are often seen in the store and crossing the shadeless parking lot.
I was taking my dinner break and decided to get a soda at the local convenience store. I got in my car which had the debut disc from the group Blackfield in the CD player, the track “Hello” firmly placed in repeat rotation, as I had recently fallen in love with the tune. My windows were cracked open to keep the insides of my Mercury Cougar from becoming a sweatbox (a trick that never works), while the air conditioner valiantly but hopelessly tried to knock the temperature down. The chorus cranked out, “Hello, hello, hello, hello... Is it gonna last?” That’s when I noticed two small kids and their parents, the group of them dressed in attire I’ve come to instinctively recall, suddenly looking in my direction. Their faced beamed and the kids smiled. I waved to them.
I didn’t know that “Hello” had been a big hit for Blackfield earlier in the year in
Israel
. All I knew was that I had to hear that song over and over again, compulsively, and I could see that this family knew that song well. They suddenly heard a familiar tune from the unlikeliest of places and, in that parking lot smelling like the melting of tons of blacktop in the middle of August, two worlds collided and unified with the power of nothing more than music.
That’s what Blackfield is all about really- unification. Porcupine Tree leader Steven Wilson has often said he likes sad songs because they’re often the most beautiful. Israeli performer Aviv Geffen has prestige in his homeland and a terrible moment to add. He was serenading Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin onstage at the moment he was assassinated. Amongst them is Blackfield, more than a duo and a new CD release for the rest of the world; it also has that rare quality of unification through art versus politics and violence.
“Fine, fine, whatever”, you may ask. “Does it rock?” Well, yes and no. It isn’t that kind of disc. Like the Tree’s “Stupid Dream” disc, mostly acoustic guitars drive songs beside piano textures, strings and subdued synths, while sparingly, tastefully punctuated with electrics, in slides, shimmers and occasionally stabs. The disc opener “Open Mind” lets you know how things are going to roll. The verses put you in a folky frame of mind when the wordless chorus punches in with guitar chunks. “The Hole In Me” does the same with a wounded Gypsy atmosphere to its verses while the choruses sport beautifully orchestrated, locked-in harmonies.
As with most of the best discs out there, my favorite tracks change from day to day as my moods gravitate to different songs. Yesterday, I was hooked into the tune for which the group was named, “Blackfield”. Tonight I became fixated on “Glow” and the mostly piano-driven “Lullaby”. Tomorrow may be a new situation entirely, and yet after it all there is that final track I simply can never pass up. If there is a slight chance “Hello” gets to US radio, it will be a hit. It is short, sweet, to-the-point and as close to pop-rock elegance as we’ve heard ‘round here in a long time.
Wilson
and Geffen’s voices intertwine perfectly and, when needed, nail whatever emotional range is summoned. The drums, provided by both the current and former Tree drummers Gavin Harrison and Chris Maitland, are impressive when needed and restrained when they’re solely supportive. The ten tracks of the standard release are concise, never rambling, never self-congratulatory; in short, this is as close to a modern classic rock disc as I’ve seen in a while.
And it all comes back to a parking lot in summertime in a hazy, where a group of people separated by religion and ethnicity somehow found themselves all under the same sheltering umbrella. “Hello, hello, hello, hello... Is it gonna last?”
I hope so.
Release Date: August 24, 2004
Tracks: 10 - Time: N/A
Produced by: Blackfield
Format: CD
Website: www.blackfield.org
Track Listing:
Open Mind/ Blackfield / Glow / Scars / Lullaby / Pain / Summer / Cloudy Now / The Hole in Me / Hello.
Blackfield:
Steve Wilson -
Aviv Geffen -
Gavin Harrison -
Chris Maitland -
|
|
|
|
|
