Author Topic: SHADOWLAND (Project of The Week for 9th of October)  (Read 399 times)

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moleshow

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Re: SHADOWLAND (Project of The Week for 9th of October)
« on: October 20, 2017, 03:16:06 pm »
instead of going about this in the manner that i usually would, with deep, serious analysis of the show’s role in the Residential world, what it means, what its presence indicates in conjunction with the rest of their works, all that sort of stuff, it feels more fitting to do something a little more personal here.

see, in 2015 (while the south american run of Shadowland was going on), i discovered The Residents. needless to say, nothing was ever quite the same after. after i became acquainted with the vague shape of their concept, i dared to delve into what they were up to in the present. it was a strange time. conveniently, the US tour had yet to rear its head, so over the next few months, i swam around in the deep end for a while… then, april arose and it was TIME FOR MOLESHOW TO SEE SHADOWLAND.

and that i did! sitting outside of the 9:30 Club at 1 in the afternoon, i sat there with my buddy. waiting. making awkward, apologetic eye contact with Miles and Hein. making slightly less awkward eye contact with employees.

when the time came, hoo boy. i had a dumb, smiling look on my face the whole time. there is something so particularly magical about the sounds of Shadowland. the guitar sighs, sparkles, jumps, sometimes screeches… the keyboard creates a physical space that surrounds you in a fluttering, floating world of checker-print beauty. the vocals give texture and meaning to that space. that’s a stupid, fancy way of saying that the music is good.

making frequent eye-contact with Randy was accentuated by the fact that he was, yknow, sort of putting his crotch in my face. it seemed as if he came over to the side i was on more often than the other one, but maybe i’m only imagining things. ANYWAYS.

what i really love about the show besides all that (even the Nike Clown Shoes- like, hey? what?) are the Shadow Stories. there is something so particularly beautiful, short and sweet, about them. they all seem to hold a mournful aggression, or an aggressive sense of mourning. (also, that version of Mourning Glories makes me weep- that guitar just sings.) they’re sort of ethereal and beautiful. super cool stuff.

i would go into detail about making terrified eye contact with Nolan and EDF after the show, or witnessing Homer, Jana and Francis all walk past me, or even meeting Homer… but that’s, perhaps, for another time.

SHADOWLAND GOOD SHOW. INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TO ME.
"All our lives we love illusion, neatly caught between confusion and the need to know we are alive."