The mono Experience In Stereo (Rain)

Have you ever had one of those days, when you hear a certain track and you feel a sudden urge to do something? For instance, if you were to listen to Marvin Gaye's 'Sexual Healing' or 'Let's Get It On' and suddenly, you feel the urge to 'get your groove on', or maybe if you were to hear 'Eye of The Tiger', and you feel like working out, just like Rocky Balboa. I had a similar experience, and no, it has nothing to do with making love to someone.

A couple of days ago, I was in a bus, on my way home, and the track 'Paradise Circus' from Massive Attack's latest album, Heligoland, started to play on my iPod. It was a cold and wet day, and the air-conditioning in the bus was set to full. Somehow, the environment suited the song extremely well. As soon as I got off the bus, I felt the sudden urge to just walk in the rain. Basically, to me, 'Paradise Circus' is a track about love, the kind of love where one party knows that it is already a lost cause but still holds on to it, even though it is hanging by a thread, or could have already ceased to exist. It is somewhat like a delusional kinda love (if you have ever been in a relationship, you would probably understand what I mean).

It was drizzling, and the emptiness of the track made the raindrops colder and the environment harsher. The subtle beats, repetitive bells, piano riffs and the seemingly empty voice of Hope Sandoval, just brought on (and accentuated), the feeling of despair, the kind of despair where the world has lost its warmth and you feel all alone in this vast planet. As the raindrops kept falling on my head (not the song), in an interesting pattern that was actually (more or less) on beat throughout the whole track, I could feel the piercing cold of the raindrops, drop by drop, and it did not help at all.

Bit by bit, the combination of music and environment, was slowly getting to me. If you had ever tasted the aftermath of a breakup, this is how it feels like, exactly. You feel a sinking feeling in your gut, as the warmth in your body dissipates and a wave of cold tingling sensation runs through you. It is as though Death has his grip on you, squeezing every inch of life that is in you. Weird as it may seem, I was happy but this experience left me feeling a lil melancholic.

On another note, fans and critics alike, have been critical and disappointed with Massive Attack's new album. Maybe, they are too used to Massive Attack's older tracks and subconsciously, have set a certain (high) benchmark of what to expect from Massive Attack. On the other hand, I would not say that the whole album is rubbish, there are a couple of good tracks here and there but definitely, it seems that Massive Attack are moving away from their old style (that is distinctly Massive Attack) and Heligoland is probably a transition phase, as they try to take their music to a whole new level. Whether it works or not, only time will tell.

Massive Attack featuring Hope Sandoval - Paradise Circus