it's all about Lacrimosa - again
Jul. 30th, 2006 01:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
floatingleafSo I open the booklet with the lyrics to my latest Lacrimosa album... and this is what I find:
Just - as you are
Show yourself to me - when you burn
When you lose yourself to me
Hold on to my glance!
Just - as you are
Let us flee and slip away from the world
Let yourself breathe and pull away
Look at me - and follow me!
Just - as you are
Let us flee - let yourself breathe
Hold on - and follow me!
Just - as I do
Flood me - waste yourself
Hold me tight - I'm following you
Just - as I do to you
Conquer me - empty yourself
Hold on - and follow me!
(...)
Here - I take it all
As you take me - into the day
Here we are strangers
And burned out
In the morning light - that will destroy us
Hold on to my glance!
(Sapphire, from the album Lichtgestalt; translation of the original German lyrics, written by Tilo Wolff)
Well... I guess if you really wanted to, you could see this as referring to het sex - but it would be a looong stretch.;) There is one gorgeous piece about het sex on one of the previous albums, which Tilo and Anne sing together (and it is actually one of my favorites); but the one above is performed just by him. And it is very dark and filled with longing. Actually, every single track on every single Lacrimosa album I have heard is dark and filled with longing... or dark and poetic, or dark and angsty, or dark and ominous, or... you get the picture. And no, it doesn't make me want to commit suicide. It makes me want to cry tears of joy and thanks for discovering so much beauty. I am very susceptible to emotions conveyed by music, words or images - but real beauty never actually brings me down. It uplifts me. I can cry my eyes out over a beautifully written, tragic story, but in the end I will feel cleansed and transformed in a positive way. And atmospheric, melancholy music is like air and water to me. I don't scorn 'easy listening', if I am in the mood - but give me something really deep and sad, and I'm in heaven.;) I feed on the emotional quality in sound; those plaintive violins, teary piano passages, wailing guitars... and, of course, the human voice, which is the richest instrument when it comes to conveying emotions. I have always loved the singers who seem to lay their soul bare by their voice... it is the exhibitionistic quality of the vocals that grips me by the gut. The first example of this that comes to my mind right now is Sinead O'Connor, with whom I fell madly in love about 15 years ago... due to the tears and anger in her voice, as much as to her ethereal looks (and gender ambiguity too, I guess). Anyway... Tilo may seem a creature from a totally different world in artistic terms, but he definitely has the same intensity. His vocal range is staggering. Those ominous growls issuing from his mouth can make your hair stand on end - but he can also sound extremely gentle, tender and loving. Especially when he sings words like these:
I lost you in the morning
When the snow fell in our world
I lost you in the cold
Between the shades of our illusions
I found an empire of love and pain
Within this kiss - this kiss goodbye
For I will never
Forget your face
Behind the window
Of this parting train
I asked the moon
To bring you back into my arms
I called the wind to guide your way
I begged the earth to hold you tight
Keep you from harm
I send you kisses in my dreams
For I know
We had our time
I close the door
The party is over
(from The Party Is Over, album Lichtgestalt; written by Tilo Wolff)
There are so many things about this guy - his looks, the gender-transcending goth image, the music he creates, the lyrics he writes, the whole persona he projects to the outside world - that make me think he could be a vampire. There is a certain timeless quality about him, a certain kind of stoic wisdom that comes from having gone through a lot of darkness and pain. If it's only an artistic disguise that he makes up for the benefit of his audience, then he does it well indeed. It is very convincing. He seems so much more than just human, somehow...
Just - as you are
Show yourself to me - when you burn
When you lose yourself to me
Hold on to my glance!
Just - as you are
Let us flee and slip away from the world
Let yourself breathe and pull away
Look at me - and follow me!
Just - as you are
Let us flee - let yourself breathe
Hold on - and follow me!
Just - as I do
Flood me - waste yourself
Hold me tight - I'm following you
Just - as I do to you
Conquer me - empty yourself
Hold on - and follow me!
(...)
Here - I take it all
As you take me - into the day
Here we are strangers
And burned out
In the morning light - that will destroy us
Hold on to my glance!
(Sapphire, from the album Lichtgestalt; translation of the original German lyrics, written by Tilo Wolff)
Well... I guess if you really wanted to, you could see this as referring to het sex - but it would be a looong stretch.;) There is one gorgeous piece about het sex on one of the previous albums, which Tilo and Anne sing together (and it is actually one of my favorites); but the one above is performed just by him. And it is very dark and filled with longing. Actually, every single track on every single Lacrimosa album I have heard is dark and filled with longing... or dark and poetic, or dark and angsty, or dark and ominous, or... you get the picture. And no, it doesn't make me want to commit suicide. It makes me want to cry tears of joy and thanks for discovering so much beauty. I am very susceptible to emotions conveyed by music, words or images - but real beauty never actually brings me down. It uplifts me. I can cry my eyes out over a beautifully written, tragic story, but in the end I will feel cleansed and transformed in a positive way. And atmospheric, melancholy music is like air and water to me. I don't scorn 'easy listening', if I am in the mood - but give me something really deep and sad, and I'm in heaven.;) I feed on the emotional quality in sound; those plaintive violins, teary piano passages, wailing guitars... and, of course, the human voice, which is the richest instrument when it comes to conveying emotions. I have always loved the singers who seem to lay their soul bare by their voice... it is the exhibitionistic quality of the vocals that grips me by the gut. The first example of this that comes to my mind right now is Sinead O'Connor, with whom I fell madly in love about 15 years ago... due to the tears and anger in her voice, as much as to her ethereal looks (and gender ambiguity too, I guess). Anyway... Tilo may seem a creature from a totally different world in artistic terms, but he definitely has the same intensity. His vocal range is staggering. Those ominous growls issuing from his mouth can make your hair stand on end - but he can also sound extremely gentle, tender and loving. Especially when he sings words like these:
I lost you in the morning
When the snow fell in our world
I lost you in the cold
Between the shades of our illusions
I found an empire of love and pain
Within this kiss - this kiss goodbye
For I will never
Forget your face
Behind the window
Of this parting train
I asked the moon
To bring you back into my arms
I called the wind to guide your way
I begged the earth to hold you tight
Keep you from harm
I send you kisses in my dreams
For I know
We had our time
I close the door
The party is over
(from The Party Is Over, album Lichtgestalt; written by Tilo Wolff)
There are so many things about this guy - his looks, the gender-transcending goth image, the music he creates, the lyrics he writes, the whole persona he projects to the outside world - that make me think he could be a vampire. There is a certain timeless quality about him, a certain kind of stoic wisdom that comes from having gone through a lot of darkness and pain. If it's only an artistic disguise that he makes up for the benefit of his audience, then he does it well indeed. It is very convincing. He seems so much more than just human, somehow...
