Guest post by Nicholas Holt
The intended broad-mindedness of travel is often forfeited because of the hackneyed reinterpretations of it all. Life becomes one gigantic, tiresome Facebook album where a personal camera is used to tick the boxes of the savvy Western traveler. Yes, most have traveled – we’re not breaking down the Berlin wall like David Hasselhoff by doing so, however, occasionally, even the most prudent nomad will come across something which strikes an inner-chord; tickles a rib bone etc and makes us realise that we haven’t seen it all, and undoubtedly, haven’t haven’t heard it all. I’m currently residing in Los Angeles (that’s right, I travel) and have been on an expedition in the US of A to find music that hasn’t been rammed down my throat. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, because, well, learning from others is important and does add knowledge where we didn’t once have it. But there’s something romantic and self-empowering about discovering a deft songwriter within the jungle.
There are definitely pockets of gorgeous stuff in Los Angeles – many pockets – but the problem is, it’s often shrouded by the giant beast which shadows it. And sometimes it’s hard to ascertain whether something that is getting traction in this town is a bona fide product in its embryonic stage, or if it has a greater manufactured destiny from up above (Hollywood). On the other side of the country, New York has always produced music in surplus. Brooklyn especially over the past few years. The Brooklyn epithet holds far less approbation these days because, well, for a while there, every second band was from Brooklyn. But in saying that, the scene is divergent from LA in so many ways.
As I stumbled around the West Village one night, looking for a reason to carnage the few remaining braincells, I ran into Paul Gillard – one half of the Brooklyn band Lord Classic. A two-piece which has been designed by real couple. Love and music has been amalgamated in a sense for a long time…ya know, Sonny and Cher….OK, that’s all I’ve got. But there was something pretty special here. The song I’m going to reflect on here is called ‘The Cisleroo’, which, according to its maker is about tripping in a jungle with a hairy creature called The Cisleroo. Yes, quite an imagination indeed. Nonetheless, as we moved on to our 9th or so order of Brooklyn Lager and a handful of college cigarettes he played me his opus memoranda.
We could delve into the intricacies and structure of lovely little post-folk song (bla bla bla) or we could take a poetic piece like this and possibly draw our own conclusions. For me, this is the ballad for plummeting fast and looking for a voice to assure us that no matter how many drugs we have taken, things will be OK. No matter what dog-haired couch we’ve eventually rested on, things will be OK. If the girl in basement starts breathing again, things will be OK. And indeed, the unassuming warmth of ‘The Cisleroo’ should remind us that being OK is more powerful than anything else.
Lord Classic – ‘Cisleroo’
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
More classic deities here.
Nicholas Holt is a dashing music writer from Brisbane currently running some epic scam in L.A. that we can’t quite figure out. He last wrote about the Blink-182 comeback concert at The Hollywood Bowl.
Leave a comment: