DAS GROßE LOS – Bleib (nicht wo du bist)
What is a great song, if not an act of hypnotism? The ritual is the same as is the result when everything works. The person being hypnotized is supposed to relax, to listen closely, to put their faith in someone else. What is working the machine, on the other hand, is something whispered slowly, repetitively, delivered almost as a spell which, if all works, entirely captures the attention of the person listening.
We appreciate this less, perhaps, since we have so much music from which we can choose. We can also choose to listen to it at any time, with music of all kinds from all parts of the world beamed down through our headphones. Still, decades ago, people who had less of this luxury used to play music or attend concerts precisely for the goal of having their nervous system jolted in a particular kind of way. People used music to bring about change.
DAS GROßE LOS’s “Bleib (nicht wo du bist)” is designed like a session of hypnosis. The sounds are pleasant but also powerful enough to let you know that this is serious business. The guitar riffs lead into excellent vocal harmonies, into gentle bass guitar parts, and back again. This is only fitting as this is a song about wanting to hypnotize someone into accepting a major change in their lives. While this approach works less often in the real world, it’s something that musically works well for Das Große Los.
the rising sign – nocturne
The body has brilliant tools to deal with extreme pressure of any sort. If you ever feel too much physical pain, you the body shuts down and you faint. If you ever feel nervous and can’t control your brain, you faint. If you ever hear news that would launch you into madness, you faint. Well, now you get the picture that most of life’s shocks are resolved by the body by fainting.
But what if you want to live through some of the stress without hitting the floor, losing consciousness, and ending up forgetting your name and where you parked? There’s humor, and that can get you out of a lot of tough places. It helps make talking about terrible things bearable. It’s a way to listen to terrible news and stories of criminal behavior while wearing an all-knowing smile on your face.
the rising sign’s “nocturne,” seems like the kind of song that was penned by a writer while hiding inside of a piano during a terrible, drunken bar fight. It sounds like a night in Buenos Aires after all the tourists have gone to bed. It sounds like a confession that could’ve only been made through poetry and music so as to avoid becoming a victim. This is music that treads similar ground as Nick Cave or Tom Waits, two others who have ventured into these notorious places and come back to tell the tale. And if you’re not laughing, you’ll cry. Or, worse, you’ll faint.
