Virtual album 2000 @ mp3.com .
More organic than 'Archangel' and some interesting new directions...............................................
"I could be successful and never be forgotten"
A blatant critique of the music industry (see the Manifesto) 'Hit', along with 'Magnificent' should be required listening for all prospective candidates on Plop Idol. Never consider Silverman to be happy as a cult net band, though they're very good at it. Underneath they want to be huge, and I'd love to see Martin giving the old one fingered salute to the stiffs on TOTP. Here they step outside themselves and get swamped by the pop media machine. Comes with free post down-the -pub game Spot the Pop-culture References (with Stevo's 'arse' game to follow;-)). I can't get the Sugar Cubes 'Hit' out of my head and the illustration at mp3.com is an embryo, in which case it's about babies. Again. Or is it a compound 'birth' of an embryonic band
WHATEVER TURNS YOU ON
"You don't want friends, just people you know"
And after 'Hit', back into more familiar territory. Another upper veering toward downer but managing to keep it's wheels on the road and a smile on it's face somehow. Love those little aural fireworks whizzing out like something from a sixties sci-fi B-movie. Splendid little piece. There's also the reappearance of the 'mouth' theme which you might notice running through the songs.
BEAUTIFUL BROWN LEATHER GLOVES
"Choice can make you weak when you abuse it"
I see... a mobile hanging over a childs bed, twisting in the breeze. No gloves for me. 'Working out the meaning of love' is another child-like puzzle and one nobody has cracked yet, to my satisfaction. It's a comforter, like the gloves, something to latch onto when nothing else makes sense.
YOU AND YOUR MOUTH
"I will be nothing and you will be my witness"
Like an ice sculpture called 'Love is...' on a warm spring day. Gets bonus points for the reference to 'Hotel New Hampshire' by John Irving. And the 'mouth' thing's back. Let's get oral, then. Oral is a stage in a child's development when it keeps putting things in it's mouth. As such, this track links back to 'Beautiful Brown Leather Gloves'. The wise, comforting presence of the parent/ lover grows from this child... So we're all just big kids basically.... Yes Dr Freud but I feel like a pair of curtains...Well pull yourself together man! Sorry.
TAKEN WITH YOU
"Have you ever really wondered why I'm quiet when we're in the same room?"
Not a dry eye in the house. Lighters out and in the air. And that lovely heart breaking TMC oboe thingy. This is the sound of surrender and confusion and why I say of this band they're 'like falling in love but without the bruises'. What's he/she thinking. He/she can't really like me, can they? What am I doing wrong? Why why why won't you kiss me? Stress Thursday Fox.
MAGNIFICENT
"You're wide- eyed and innocent, wide eyed and magnificent"
Balancing 'Hit' and making it clear Silverman have more than one bow string, 'Magnificent' is a celebrity death-match shock result! Virtual unknown English lass kicks Canadian songstress Alanis' ass and it's done while remaining so laid back. Anna could run about and smash up the Marshall's but why bother when you can let the words do it? Now that's ironic. And the child theme's here, too.
darling darling
"Absolutely, completely"
Silverman's minimalist aural painting. I try and try to catch all the spoken word bit but I miss most of it. Something about Josephine and a guardian angel called darling darling. Help me out here- is this from a book? 'Tis very literary. Perfect if you're in desperate need of a hug and there's no one around to oblige. Soothes and heals and then rises on guitar wings into the sky and envelopes evertything in something approaching rapture. Epic.
COMPLICATED
"Please excuse me if I want to be alone sometimes"
This is 'Star' s 'Time Is A Blade'. Anna+ guitar+ squeeky chair=Bloody fantastic! With a good set of speakers you're almost there in the room. Above all others, 'Complicated' makes me wish I'd never heard of Silverman, just so I could discover them again.