Features
Track By Track: Seagull
Contributions by Chris Bolton
Original page credit: Mess+Noise
Singer, songwriter and classically trained guitarist CHRIS BOLTON self-produced the third album by his Melbourne band Seagull. ‘Ocean From Above’ is rippling and meditative, while Bolton’s below commentary is stunningly honest.
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]
‘Ruby’
This track is about the relief when you realise that you have the capacity to love someone again and be loved by someone again after thinking you were a done deal, bound to live in a desperate cave of loneliness for the rest of the days you could bear to survive.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]‘Original Shape’
This is a pre-emptive breakup song. It was imminent and there was a general feeling of sadness in the air mixed with a dose of guilt and regret that things didn’t work out. I wrote the words to this while wandering around Hobart and I was predicting that I would be a past mistake. I’m trying to change the lyrics so we can get a promo deal with Arnott’s Barbecue Shapes: “Far from the meal, in between lunch and steak, I need a snack so tasty ... Arnott’s barbecue shapes!”
‘Written Word’
For a while I was sure that the written word was concerned only with consumerism and appropriation of private property and was the driving force behind all conflict. Werribee Hospital’s high-dependency ward is a pretty nice facility really; good lasagne and you can play piano. This song is one of the few easy-listening anarcho-primitivist songs.
‘Fading Away’
The downtrodden farmer’s wife is singing a song to her baby. I wish Kate Bush sung my part of this song. I imagine the accordion is like a big beast waking up from hibernation, like the tiger waking up in the sand dune in Aladdin.
‘All For One’
There was this lady in Sunshine who called a cab to get to the hospital to give birth because her husband was passed out on the couch and wouldn’t wake up. The cab came and the driver charged her and was generally a bit of an arse. This song is like a slow-mo Today Tonight episode from the perspective of the villain.
‘Burning Bright’
Adolescent drug consumption for some people is a bad thing; for other people they have an excellent time. I used to listen to a lot of Philip Glass and try and control the birds. Anyway, this song is an attempt to sing unconsciously. Pete [Emptage] plays the beached whale sounds on double bass.
‘Anhedonia’
Nice-sounding word, horribly depressing meaning. Not even a good toasted sandwich could cheer me up at this point. Chocolate ice cream and LOTR came close enough. Needless to say, I put on a few kgs. I like that this song sounds like it’s being played underwater.
‘Unclaimed Luggage’
I’d like to make a film clip for this of people ‘failing’: falling from bridges and injuring themselves on trampolines and getting too close to wild bears and that kind of thing. [Kishore Ryan]’s drums really drive this song well. It’s probably the only song on the album that could be called upbeat. It’s about uncertainty. I guess it’s also about terrorism, as a kind of metaphor for general unpredictability. Not terrorism as much as the threat.
Not being attached to anything is an old idea, and I’m not sure what I think about it. Sometimes it seems like a good idea and sometimes it seems like it comes from being scared of losing things, which seems cowardly. I would like to write more loud songs.
‘It’s Spring’
Blackbirds get it on at springtime.
‘Broth’
Being consumed by ... no. More about ... escape! Like, escape from the idea of the future. Ruby [Fiedler] rocks the clarinet solo; this song is mostly about the clarinet solo. I don’t want to write about it because I will ruin any chance of it seeming mystical.
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