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For the same reason she doesn't pay tribute to current trends: her
aim isn't to exploit an existing genre, but to evoke the atmosphere
of an unexplored land. Total control implies not only composing
all music and lyrics, but also spending eight hours a day in her
home studio; to forge the sound, trying to give substance to her
feelings.
Feelings and ideals which seem quite distant from the ones prevailing
among artists: associated with a dreamy yet extremely aggressive
sound (kept in perpetual suspence between epic and irony); and with
vocals (the more childish the more she sings about cruel issues)
which refuse to submit to the common place that only soul-or-jazzy
vocal techniques can be effectively coupled with heavily electronic
tracks, we find lyrics paying no homage to the ideals of peace love
etc. unanimously espoused by most musicians. The word 'love' never
recurs in this work; the word 'peace' recurs just to question it
("Such A Precious Gift?"). Such controversial issues, as the relation
between civilization and the 'non technological creatures'; or as
the human violence are recurring subjects in her texts, nevertheless
they're not regarded from one single point of view. Does violence
simply spring from a wish for justice ("The Oath") or even for revenge,
maybe merely personal ("War Machines")? Or is it instead originated
from devotion, to a specific leader, to a sense of duty; which can
reach the self-sacrifice ("Give Me A Try In The Front Line", "Ship
Battle")? Or is it a quest for an extreme experience that, stirring
up hidden energies, may lead to enlightenment ("The Doubt Of Winners",
"Greedy for Glory")?
The only certainty, to avoid any misunderstanding the first song
makes it immediately clear ("Inborn Zeal"), is that the violence
sung here is not that occasional outburst of uncontrolled rage which
intellectuals and reviewers usually take a liking to; instead it
is the organized violence, the channelled and Established one, which
is paradoxically branded as the most odious and incomprehensible
by the Establishment who is using it; which is universally criticized
(uncritically?...) and yet apparently remains an irremovable pillar
of History.
Anyway, the relation between order and disorder has many nuances
in these songs, and so has the relation between freedom and discipline.
In three of the tracks it seems to hint at the taking of drugs,
regarded without either moralizing or compliance. In "Such A Precious
Gift?" it is a matter of freedom, a sort of right of the individual,
and it cannot be condemned undiscerningly; should we banish all
what eventually leads to self-destruction, little would be left
in...
In "War Machines" on the contrary there is a refusal against any
too easy escapism ('I won't get stoned, I don't want to forget'),
refusal meant to get access to such powerful weapons as 'order and
discipline': trying to respond to personal grief not with an artificial
oblivion but building a most strong ability to react. A less easy
to understand position is the strange hint in "Ship Battle", where
instead it seems like there is no more conflict between discipline
and the 'altered states'; or better still, such modified states
of awareness would appear preordained here to faithfully carry out
an otherwise too difficult duty. Probably, it's a polemical remark
against the current idea that being on drugs is like being unconventional;
the use of 'substances' is more likely to pave the way for settling
in, as it makes endurable what (in a society) otherwise would be
unbearable... all but revolution! Many questions, no certain answers:
in front of an 'I' tested both by its own internal urges and by
the external challenges, trying to turn into an organized 'we' ("The
Oath") more confident and never tired of marching in this world,
there is a multi-faced 'you'. Sometimes 'you' is used with the leader,
the commandant, the inspirer of great exploits and heroic feats.
But in other songs 'you' is used with the enemy, outling a relationship
in several shades from a pre-existing mutual trust to the offense,
to an upset balance seemingly impossible to be reset right without
using violence. To settle a dispute without leaving a heap of ruins?
Maybe in some other universe; and yet, even winners have their doubts...
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