June 10th, 2008
The Charlatans
I get emails:
Hey Ox,
How’s the toe?
Erin
Ah, yes, the toe. It’s better now, thanks for asking. Doesn’t hurt anymore. The tip which was torn off has begun to scab. Now I have these irrepressible urges to peel the scab off. Does that happen to you? An impetus to pull slowly at that crusty, unfinished piece of new flesh, feeling all that organic mortar rend, exposing the sensitive, raw, pink skin beneath? Truth is I can barely help myself, doing it almost almost subconsciously, as if I was done with layers piling up upon each other, looking to tear through my personal carapace which prevents my real, bare self from coming through.
And perhaps that same kind of need to reacquaint themselves with themselves is what pushed The Charlatans (or The Charlatans UK, depending on where you stand in relation to rock music history) to create a song like You Cross My Path, which abandons some of the (unsuccessful?) tangents taken by The Charlatans with their previous studio album and head down a more dance-oriented, Britpop-influenced rock sound, back into territory we know them best for. It’s a raucously melodic lasher which jitters under the vivid drumwork and spirited guitars which go from jangling excitedly to soaring pensively under the strain of some decidedly new wave chords. Then there’s these really effective chorus surges sworn in by swirling hammond whirs, as if prepping the scene for Tim Burgess to trumpet jeeringly “I will ride again and I’ll take you down like that/You will die up there alone, I’ll take you down like that” in that defiant yet stable slighting he has. It’s a fervent track, tight at the seams, and sharply executed, perfect to bounce around to.
More updates on my toe, as well as more Freudian pseudopsychology, as need be.