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September 06, 2005
the bones of seven lemons
Atlas Strategic - Day in the Life
Some of you might know this song through its Wolf Parade incarnation, which Dan StG wrote about a couple months ago, but 'Day in the Life' made its debut on Atlas Strategic's "Rapture, Ye Minions" album. Dan Boeckner's old band had a very different style, as anyone who's heard them can attest. While Wolf Parade may make some dark, fractured pop, Atlas Strategic made music that was broken, stuttering, partial to tangential asides, and expressed via mildly abrasive (old steel wool) arrangements.
Wolf Parade's version puts the sadness of the song in parentheses; it's quarantined by strong beats, jagged guitar, and syrupy/sour organ sounds. There's no question that its gorgeous, but the passionate delivery that Dan and Spencer give the lyrics almost masks the patent despair of the original. In the Atlas Strategic version, you can hear every heartrending nuance of Dan's words, reflected in the slow, almost torturous pace of the track- the herky-jerk guitar and the way the organ only rarely deigns to become an actual part of the song. Dan harmonizes with a beautiful female voice during the emotional climax of the song, where he sings about being "on the bus into town/through the clear, shining air/the houses with the shades pulled down/you can guess what goes on in there"- and it captures that personal bubble of loneliness that seems to envelop any public transportation traveler (c.f. Belle and Sebastian's "the State that I Am In" when Stuart sings "riding on city buses for a hobby is sad").
Atlas Strategic broke up in 2002. "Rapture, Ye Minions" is sadly out of print, but you can find some more information here, at Global Symphonic, and here, at the band's old website.
P.S. the contest is on. please enter.
Posted by Kevin at September 6, 2005 12:18 AM
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