NIMBY

The ethereal with the ethical and ironic - that sums this sum up at the superficial plane, but there is so much more depth to this Ummagma track. Definitely one of the more Cocteau Twins inspired deliveries, this song is laced with a pulsation more rooted in Pink Floyd. Another track in the style of early 4AD. Whirrrrrllll..

We’re always saying
Only not in my back yard
Then it’s be alright

Know we’d be slipping up
To claim it slipped our minds
Hidden from our sight

You know you’ve heard it all
a thousand times before
Couldn’t get no worse
But everybody always puts it to the test
Driving fate’s own hurse

It’ll get better – worse
We might get luck – cursed
Load will be lighter – hurse
Not in my back yard

And every morning when you wake up in your pain
Stand and face the mirror
You reassure yourself that we all act in vain
Give in to your fear

It’ll get better – worse
We might get luck – cursed
Load will be lighter – hurse
Not in my back yard

• play
• pause
• min volume
• max volume

posted by Brodyaga (4 comments total)

At the start I thought: "Why referencing The Cocteau Twins?" Then I heard the guitar and I thought: "Ah."

The balance and sound between the instruments are beautiful! Exquisite. But, I don't know, maybe you've tried it already, the voice sounds like it's left out, in a different space? Wouldn't it enjoy a more, well, Cocteau twist to it, even if nothing more than a double track? Just my impression of the whole thing.

Like it, sounds like the singing is left a little bit out of the whole mix, but that's the only thing.
posted by AnTilgangs at 1:37 PM on April 15, 2013

Do you think that the singing sounds left out because it's too quiet? or is the double track an idea to give it a more 'chorus' type of sound that is so familiar to Elizabeth Fraser's delivery?

We were limited technology wise with the recording of this one and the multrack has since been lost, though we could presumably work with the output WAV track to lay down additional vocals.
posted by Brodyaga at 4:21 PM on April 15, 2013

That's the thing, I think it's a very nice song, I like it. And the voice actually sits pretty well with the song up until about the 3:00 minute mark. I don't know if it is even necessary, it's just that since everything else gets an added dimension at that point, and I noticed that you added some extra vocals, I thought it would benefit from a little bit of an "oomph" as well, just something I heard while listening. Pretty much just an impression.

If you don't have the multitracks I'm inclined to say that this is really good as it is. It's always difficult to add a layer on a WAV. Like I said, not necessary but would be a nice try, to see how it would mesh with the rest.
posted by AnTilgangs at 6:03 PM on April 15, 2013

Unfortunately, for this song, we no longer have the multitracks :( the hard drive blew out and we only have it in WAV now… :(
posted by Brodyaga at 11:17 AM on May 7, 2013