Todd Haynes’ documentary about The Velvet Underground (2021) brought to life not only the legend of the much-quoted New York band, but also the significance of this Welsh immigrant to New York named John Cale. A musician from various records: radical violist, neoclassical pianist, avant-garde punk rocker. And what’s more, he is a restless gentleman, almost 81 years old (who will be on March 9), fascinated by the power of electronic music and impressed by the talents of the younger generation.
This is where Mercy moves in, the novelty that one day The Stooges and Patti Smith have made their first recording. An album that offers a sonic contrast to the raw guitar of black acetate (2005) and the electronic fringe art-rock of Shifty adventures (2012) in his latest work with new compositions, Nookie Wood. The ghostly climate of a perverse early morning in neon light is more relevant to rare revisions of the classic Music for a New Society (1982), which he provided on his remake album MFANS (2016).
In these new extreme versions, he has come to banish the death of his close enemy Lou Reed and now has to deal with another class of ghosts in Mercy, including the rise of totalitarian ideologies, epidemics, and climate change. Issues floating around a repertoire that cries out for self-pity from the eponymous opening theme: “Days and days lost in agony / Lustful nights / Lift me up and have mercy on me / Have mercy, have mercy”, Cale’s thick skin injured in the cold waves of a synthesizer.
Mercy carries a certain pain and desperation, but by using electronic sources, Cale manages to extract a distant emotion from the songs, albeit only deadly. A narcotic halo, like a sedated and visionary patient, covers parts like Marilyn Monroe’s legs with the buzz and buzz of the British actress Actress. This is also a collaborative album: Weyes Blood, which gives a soft vocal echo to Story of Blood, where the piano is replaced by a dreamy (or nightmarish) soundscape; The Sylvan Esso duo stands still in the change of modern European Time, or the guys from Animal Collective shake off hallucinations of Eternal days.
melancholy and despair
Ghosts can have an up-close, human face: Nico, the “crazy junkie” in Moonstruck, and David Bowie, whom she haunts together as she wanders through the hectic Night of ’70s New York. In fact, the new single Noise of you conveys a mood that the penultimate Bowie might remind us of where we are now. Cale’s melancholic echoes and future anxiety, as he always does, while walking on the fringes of the musical art, without being indifferent.
Source: Informacion
Brandon Hall is an author at “Social Bites”. He is a cultural aficionado who writes about the latest news and developments in the world of art, literature, music, and more. With a passion for the arts and a deep understanding of cultural trends, Brandon provides engaging and thought-provoking articles that keep his readers informed and up-to-date on the latest happenings in the cultural world.