Manafonistas

Chuck Berry konnte sie nicht in Zusammenhang mit Shakespeare bringen, auf Patti Smith konnte sie sich besser einlassen, wenn sie Nietzsche gelesen hatte. Ich hatte sie ueberall in Paris gesucht, als sie gestorben war. Erst auf dem dritten Friedhof, dem Montparnasse, fand ich meine Queen „She is too cute to be a minute over seventeen.“ Ich wollte nicht, dass sie stirbt. Ihr Sohn hatte ihre Asche aus New York an den Ort gebracht, an dem sie jung war und Vogue las. Nun ist ein letztes Buch von Susan Sontag erschienen: „The DOORS und DOSTOJEWSKI“. Bei meinem naechsten Besuch an ihrem Grab werde ich ihr sagen, dass ich Eric Burdon: „It’s my Life“ besser verstehen kann, wenn ich davor, ja was gelesen haben koennte? Mir faellt nichts dazu ein. Aber ein anderer Song von Tom Waits: „Cold Water“ koennte verwebend sein.

… it still defines Mirel Wagner’s music perfectly. It certainly applied to her self-titled debut, which brought folk and blues back to their eldritch roots with songs that fell somewhere between nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and murder ballads. It’s an even more apt description of her intensely beautiful and unsettling second album, When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day.

Wagner collaborated with Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti, best known for his work as Luomo and Vladislav Delay; not an obvious choice, considering that his music is largely electronic. However, Ripatti honors her songs by giving them the cleanest, clearest surroundings possible, highlighting her hypnotic fingerpicking on „Dreamt of a Wave“ and „The Devil’s Tongue.“

Perhaps even more so than on her debut, When the Cellar Children’s spaces are as eloquent as the music, while subtle effects and slightly fuller instrumentation hover between real and surreal as needed. When the spectral backing vocals float up on „Oak Tree,“ a song about an abandoned child who ends up „dreaming underneath,“ it’s spine-tingling. Aptly, the motif of buried children runs through the album, but When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day is more about revealing than rescuing. Freedom usually means death, as on „The Dirt,“ where a child is ready to „close my eyes and wake up to a new life.“

This poetic simplicity makes Wagner’s storytelling all the more poignant and often horrifying; as with her playing, she implies a wealth of nuances in seemingly direct phrases. „In My Father’s House“ paints a portrait of deceptive serenity as Wagner details a household so full of suppressed terror that even „the pictures on the wall never look into your eyes“ over velvety strumming. On „Taller Than Tall Trees,“ she distills an ambivalent love story filled with an album’s worth of emotional twists and turns in its opening words: „See a girl dressed as a woman/Here’s a man who lies.“

Wagner (and Ripatti)’s technical prowess only enhances the album’s emotional impact. Where Mirel Wagner was a collection of vignettes, these songs revolve around the terrible things people do in the name of love, whether it’s „What Love Looks Like“’s bitter recriminations, „Goodnight“’s murder lullaby, or the eerily matter-of-fact opener „1 2 3 4,“ where a child killer professes to have „a big big heart and lots of love.“ As accomplished as it is disturbing, When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day is a riveting album from a formidable and yes, haunting, talent.

– Heather Phares, allmusic

„I’ve had a quiet day, I’ve listened to this album over and over. The stories never reach out for false consolation, the things told are nearly as bitter as the the things not told. The calmness of the voice is an exercise not to lose the voice at all. The slow motion simply suggests that some day the terror is over. Luck is a luxury. And victims everywhere. Your comfort zone is samsara. Naked music.“  (m.e.)

 
 
https://vimeo.com/86298750
 
 

 
I saw some people starving
There was murder, there was rape
Their villages were burning
They were trying to escape
I couldn’t meet their glances
I was staring at my shoes
It was acid, it was tragic
It was almost like the blues
 
I have to die a little
Between each murderous thought
And when I’m finished thinking
I have to die a lot
There’s torture and there’s killing
And there’s all my bad reviews
The war, the children missing
Lord, it’s almost like the blues
 
So I let my heart get frozen
To keep away the rot
My father said I’m chosen
My mother said I’m not
I listened to their story
Of the Gypsies and the Jews
It was good, it wasn’t boring
It was almost like the blues
 
There is no G-d in Heaven
And there is no Hell below
So says the great professor
Of all there is to know
But I’ve had the invitation
That a sinner can’t refuse
And it’s almost like salvation
It’s almost like the blues