Starsailor Fan Page

anouk · Ehemaliges Mitglied

Zitat: myspace

Hello there from orbit. Yes I finally fulfilled a lifelong dream and have become the first Irish person in space. It’s cold out here. (Apologies to any Irish people that have been in space, I did no research at all to back up this statement. As thorough as ever eh?)

Anyway…

Sometimes something just hits you somehow smack in the somewhere. That ‘something’ this time are Montreal band Miracle Fortress. Lots of other stuff thrills me right now (and I’ll get to some of that) but I come back to Five Roses by Miracle Fortress again and again like a wandering but sensible cat at meal time.

Inspirational music is about otherness. Something you may not, perhaps should not, be able to put your finger on but it makes your hairs try and shoot from your body, your stomach tumble and loop and smiles you up involuntarily. Miracle Fortress do this to me and they might do that to you. I don’t know this for sure. How could I? We are all different and sure isn’t that just spectacular? Chances are though this band will knock your shoes, socks and feet right off. When it comes to getting things knocked off you I hope it’s always blissfully metaphorical and never the likes of some douchebag intent on malevolence. I digress.
Check them out first on http://www. myspace. com/miraclefortress .
On there you will find some great album tracks (not my favorite song though which is ‘Next Train’ and is divine) and a rather brilliant cover of Digital Love by Daft Punk. I can only point, you decide. As for my opinion of them it is set in stone forever as a revelatory album destined to live with me for the duration. It is so beautiful, simple, melodious and addictive.

Before I go any further congratulations to fellow Irishman Glen Hansard and his co-star Marketa Irglova for winning the Oscar for best song for Falling Slowly. Everything about their performance, speeches and general behaviour on the night lifted the event beyond the airkissfest it looks from the outside. See the movie (Once. Thats' what the movie's called not how many times you should see it) if you’ve not as it’s quite quite sublime.

Congratulations also to our dear friends Elbow for outdoing their own almost impossible standards once again with their new album The Seldom Seen Kid. The only difference this time is they might get the album sales to match their undeniable brilliance. The world hopefully will finally fall head over heels with them. It is an extraordinary album.

Thank you to ‘abigail’ on here who suggested the book Winkie by Clifford Chase. I loved it. Thoroughly fantastic. A teddy bear comes to life and is bizarrely arrested as a suspected terrorist. Stunning and ridiculous premise perfectly implemented. I’ve given nothing away in the plot that isn’t apparent from the dust jacket and the first page so don’t panic.

Other things this last while I are been mostly loving are:

Caribou – Andorra. Another wonderful record from Dan Snaith. Again from Canada (what’s happening up there? Metric; Arcade Fire; Broken Social Scene; Holy Fuck; The Russian Futurists… the list goes on and on from there). It’s just a breathtaking piece of psychedelic mind dismantling. And somehow a pop record. Surely it can’t be both. Yes, yes it can.

Speaking of crazy, at the moment I’m reading The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. Not for the faint-hearted but worth a go if you’re up for it. Not easy to describe so I’ll not try too hard but it involves a ravenous and relentless word shark, a guy with a serious case of amnesia and a whole heap of running. I’ve not sold it to you I know but believe me it’s odd, intelligent, bold and thrilling.

M. Craft’s new record ‘Silver And Fire’ is a belter too. The single You Are The Music is a slinky treat. It puts me in mind of a more down tempo Phoenix (another band I love and can’t say enough about their last record It’s Never Been Like That. Virtually ignored in the UK but well worth a wee look as every track is glorious. Sorry, back years ago I was talking about M. Craft…). It’s a lovely record.

Looking forward to albums very soon from Frightened Rabbit, Panama Kings and Kowalski. Some (or all) of each of these records I’ve heard already and can say they’ll all be well worth the wait.

Had to have some Celtic connections in here somewhere eh?

We start in the studio in Ireland in April getting the songs ready and we’ll be working right through the summer til we get the album right. Looking forward to getting started.

I hope you’re all well and I’ll post a bit more regularly now our holidays are over (not that I saw the sun more than once. I did spend my holidays in Ireland and Scotland in the height of winter though.

When will i learn?)

Gary.

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