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Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home
The Chronicle | by Mia Tate
The listener is left disorientated, yet yearning for more
Rarely does a musical piece deliver the same structure, mood and aftereffects that an abstract motion picture does. One of these extraordinary albums is Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home by The Angels of Light, the third full length album from ex-Swans vocalist and Brooklyn based label, Young God Records owner Michael Gira. At the end of the album, like an elusive film, the listener is left disorientated, yet yearning for more. One can only wonder why such classic film-noir music have yet to be featured on the soundtracks to surreal films by eccentric directors such as David Lynch and Harmony Korine.The album’s often menacing tone, is due to the resonant orchestral instrumentation, which provides an almost majestic, enduring eminence in the ways of a more mature The Black Heart Procession and Godspeed You Black Emperor!.
Gira touches on subjects as betrayal, the loss of love, death, and all things sour. However, What at first appear to be simplistic faint lyrics, with each line having no real connection to the former, when scrupulously examined, the actual message becomes clear. When these same morose lyrics are sung through Gira’s murky, brooding voice, the dismal background music only aide in encroaching his melancholy expressions.
When compared to previous Angels of Light albums, including New Mother and How I Loved You, Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home continues in a similar fashion, however, there is a newfound maturity and passion that is much more prevalent.
Maybe Michael Gira is just a troubled man trying to do his best living in a shallow, ominous world, or maybe he’s an often un-recognized musical genius and true visionary. Either way Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home is a benchmark album that will hopefully set the stage for future disheartened musicians.