Sean A.M. 12/20/2010 10:02:00 PM
Thanks for the generally-positive review. We really enjoyed making this record, and we look forward to growing into the next one.
As far as "silly" lyrics go: it seems prudent to at least not misquote the lyrics first before calling them "silly." (The actual lyrics to the album can be found here: eolian.bandcamp.com)
The lyrics from "Circular" are about new beginnings and the circular nature of life and death akin to Buddhist philosophy; calling that "silly" seems ethnocentric at best, if not also naïve and perhaps more pretentious than the lyrics themselves could be interpreted.
Otherwise: I understand the general malaise most people feel while listening-to (when they are actually listened-to) or reading lyrics from "progressive" bands, but it's not like Eolian is singing about dragons and castles here. While writing from the perspective of a non-human (i.e. a bird) is basically pretentious by definition, the general idea (of the record overall, not specifically "Circular") was to hold-up the proverbial mirror in an effort to offer commentary about the self-centered and destructive behavior of humanity. Is it silly to talk about the destruction of millennia-old ecosystems (which we have barely begun to understand) for high-rises, parking lots and the general ethos of "as-much-as-possible-for-me-and-mine-at-the-expense-of-everything-else"?
Listeners might also think that lyrics delivered (for example, since you mentioned them; I'm not really a huge fan) from the very high tenor of Geddy Lee in the form of "And the men who hold high places / must be the ones who start / to mould a new reality / closer to the heart," are "silly," but is it "silly" because some think his voice sounds silly, or because the idea of "trickle-down" social change for the benefit of all is "silly"? Right now we live in a country which spends more than 50% of its budget (but we're actually in-debt) on corporate war-mongering while schools close or have their funding for art programs cut, teachers get laid-off, and middle-class families become bankrupt from health problems; ours is the only "developed" country in the entire world where people become destitute as a direct result of health complications. So, yeah, maybe Geddy sounds like he's just inhaled a bunch of helium, and he's Canadian (most of them are comedians, right?) but can't we get over ourselves long enough to realize that since at least 1977 (actually, for thousands of years) people have been trying to help us all stop treating each other (and our planet) like shit.
It's always easy to dismiss things to absolve one's self of responsibility, but at some point we're going to have to start listening to these people -- whether it's Geddy Lee, Bono, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, someone from an independent band nobody seems to give a shit about, or anyone else who aims a little higher than writing yet another song about unrequited love, infidelity, chillin' at the club, "bitches," or being the "greatest of all time" -- if we want to make the world a better place.
Then again, history has shown us that high-minded ideas (heliocentrism, general relativity, environmentalism, etc.) take at least a few decades to sink-in before the general public realizes their merit, or at least accepts their proponents without incarceration, assassination, or banishment. I guess there's no fault in just doing what everyone else always does ... or isn't that really the problem?
Yeah, it is.
I guess we can quibble about phrasing, but the concept of social chance and the idea of responsibility beyond one's own life-span and geographical proximity is anything but "silly," and using an outside perspective -- even if it is another animal, which is inherently anthropomorphic and pretentious -- is a tried-and-true literary method for getting readers/listeners to listen to a story (and to take criticism) which is actually about them. One sad result of our cultural climate is that people generally don't respond well to criticism, so authors have to try to "trick" people via narrative devices into realizing that change on a larger scale must begin within the individual.
What exactly is silly about any of that, except the fact that we need to "trick" people to evoke self-awareness and humility?
Regardless: thanks for listening; eventually it will make a difference.
(For more about the idea of making decisions which extend beyond one's own life, created by brilliant and influential artists from all around the world: www.longnow.org)
