"The Earth Spirit" by Ieere
Review
Today's release of "The Earth Spirit" by Ieere sees Claire Glasbey (who provided backing vocals on their last single "Ginkgo Biloba" ) as lead singer, thus increasing the Warwickshire connection.
Another from the forthcoming album 'Sad Moon, Sleepy Heads' which celebrates the work of Goethe, this song is inspired by his most famous work: ‘Faust': in fact out of the profound sense of respect for the author & his work, the lyrics are simply an English translation of the original poem.
I'm very deliberately using this third paragraph to give you a variation on the warning that I gave last time: please don't take flight at what you think a song based on high art is going to sound like. If you are looking to scour "The Earth Spirit" for signs of pretension then you are rather wasting your time. The ultimate source is elevated culture but the song is just a great song. In fact if I had so decided, I might have kept the Goethe aspect secret from you until you'd heard it & then sprung it on you, but that's not terribly trusting.
What would have happened if Bowie had been able to collaborate with Goethe as a lyricist during his Spiders from Mars period? Well it might have sound thus. It's a blues number to which Claire's voice is so suited, but a blues from the stomping glam rock part of the spectrum (yes really) rather than the jazzier type you may be more familiar with hearing her sing.
No doubt these great musicians know the fancier chords but for a song about earth spirits, they've rightly opted for the earthy of arrangements. There is even some agreeably dirty brass in there too.
Claire has indicated to me how inspiring working on a project like this is for her but I think she sounds emancipated too: I get the feeling that far from being intimidated by the cultural weight, she is having fun with the song: to be honest she also seems to be exploring a lower vocal register than I recall hearing from her previously.
In fact to cut to the chase, I had fun listening to "The Earth Spirit" and believe that you will too. The poem/song emphasises its author's belief that action should prevail over dry theory (the sort that Faust finds in his books) and frankly what a good way of describing rock & roll and anticipating the musical form by nearly two centuries. You have to really respect Ieere for making that connection & I suppose that opening ears to music and other art forms people may not yet have experienced is part of what I'm aiming to help so I recognise kindred spirits here.
Claire is far from the only musical collaborator from the area covered by this magazine the collective have and have had: credit too to Andie Thomson at Gighouse Recording Studios and previously ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Four' dedicatee the late Paul Brook plus Wayne Matthews & Sandra Godley.
Look out too for the video which accompanies the single: it goes public tomorrow (Saturday) on YouTube at 1900
