https://dailymotion.com/video/x2qiyns
If I’m listening to Empires And Dance (and not just on shuffle mode)…it’s that anticipation. Waiting for that *ping* that starts the song off. Not sure what that is…a keyboard note…a synth tone…whatever. It denotes the beginning of one of Mick MacNeil’s most amazing synth intros, ever! It’s got a great pulse, a great drive.
Then the drums and bass kick in and Derek makes some fantastic reverb cords. It’s just sssooo atmospheric. There’s a darkness to it but a funk and drive to it too. It’s groovy!
Around this time last year, the OH and I went to Bedford to collect something she’d won on eBay. My usual excellent navigation skills let me down and we took the wrong route to the pick up point. Instead of it being a short half-mile walk, it became a 2.5 mile walk!! The walk seemed endless, but in my head I was playing This Fear Of Gods and it gave me the motivation to keep going.
It’s the lyrics. Jim writes absolutely fab lyrics at this point. They are sssooo bloody emotive. Dark, deep, sensual, joyous. He’s just fab!
The lines in this that motivate me the most are:
“Fear is fast and I’m turning white now.
Fear is fast and I’m turning white now.
Faster, faster, faster, faster.
Faster, faster, faster, faster.
Fear is fast and I’m turning white now!”
Especially the way he delivers those “faster”s! So…expressive…so…angst laden.
But the best line of the song?…”violence and vivisection” – Where, WHERE have you heard a song have the word “vivisection” in it?! And when they toured the 5×5 set, Jim would always have his hand give a “V” sign when delivering that line. Love it!
So, to recap. Great opening synths (and throughout), fab reverbing, funky basslines, amazing use of asian flute sounds (like there’s a snake charmer in the studio). Amazing lyrics, amazing delivery of said lyrics. It’s just dark, atmospheric, electric, driving, pulsing. Amazing!
And, that is why I love This Fear Of Gods.
