For me it’s always a gamble when I hit the button to spin something tagged “electronica” or “new wave” (although I have to admit it’s good to actually see that second one, having been a fan of the first wave). Well here’s one that landed on my favorite spot on the spinnin’ wheel, The latest Gift of Tongues record, Songs of My People.
Ok, straight up, no holds barred, this is one of the strangest, craziest, twistiest records I’ve listened to in a long, long time. It sure ain’t no ordinary electronica! It’s kind of like Tom Waits meets Soft Cell or A Flock of Seagulls all mixed up with Velvet Underground. It’s surreal. Dark, strange lyrics tell tales that weave like the “Snakes Around Them” through the consciousness sometimes beckoning and beguiling, at others it’s more like being dragged along kicking and screaming.
Is it social commentary? Is it story-telling in the olde tradition? Is it real or imagined? Some of these songs are like fuzzy dreams called to reality by a misty-forest musical Merlin. Gift of Tongues is like the Alice Cooper of electronica.
Bay Area Reporter said, “Listening with half an ear in a crowded bar, you’ll hear smooth, usually up tempo music, but pay attention to the Iyrics, and you’ll get a whole other story.” I can’t think of a better way to put it. A good example is “What’s Mommy Getting Up To.” While it’s a perfectly dance-able groove that might go over in the club without a notice of it’s darker vibe, the minor chording and dark subject hide themselves in the pop-ish sounds waiting to grab you and knock you into another world of thought.
Conversely, cuts such as “Once I Was a Soldier” make no bones about it, they are weird and deep from the first note. It’s the same with “10050 Cielo Drive” (yes, that’s the adress of Roman Polanski’s house made famous by Charles Manson’s “family” in the Tate/Bianca murders) which quotes the famous “Helter Skelter.”
Have a listen to “America (The Beautiful)” and find that it’s nothing like the title might suggest. It’s a wild and crazy halcion ride across the country with the boys from Easy Rider fueled by the modern pharmaceutical companies, with a bad attitude.
David Johnston is the man behind the mask of Gift of Tongues. With a background in performance art, he chooses to call his music “performative.” I can get that. The twists in the lyrics, combined with the dramatic layers of sound evoke similarly layered mental images. My imagination runs “over the river and through the woods” with wild abandon.
Johnston says he performs in a mask to distance himself from the more personal parts of the songs, but that he strives to pull the audience into the music in a very personal way. I imagine it’s one heck of a live show.
In the mood to have your gourd baked or need to let it simmer on a different burner for a bit? Don’t hesitate to give Songs of My People a spin, but be warned… it’s not your daddy’s new-age!
