Saturday, January 17, 2015

Rarely Heard: Soap&Skin - Vater

I'm a great fan of Soap&Skin, the musical project of the Austrian musician and composer Anja Plaschg. "...often drawing comparisons between Plaschg and celebrated female singer/songwriters such as Cat Power, Nico, Kate Bush, and Björk" (Allmusic.com) I'd say her compositions show a very individual musical vision, all meticulously created song poems, often little operas in themselves, like the song Vater. She's been successful in her home country and a bit in France and Belgium, but I'd say she's deserves much more attention. Most of her songs are not in German, I have included a translation of Vater's lyrics below.


Stop all the clocks,
prevent the dog from barking at the wheel,
wherever i impact i'll find you
you fall into the shadows of days
as silence and stab
i drink a dozen bottles of wine
and would rather be a maggot

the coffin collapses
the flowers fall onto your cheeks
first white then blue then grey then green then foam then leaves and dust

please put yourself out of my mind out of my house
who else should i cope the horror
with which heart?
with which body?
over.
over.

wherever i impact i'll find you
you fall into the shadows of days
as silence and stab
i wait for you returning home
i never wanted to be a maggot more than now
beeing a maggot
beeing a maggot
..

Let me in, in, (your) bones
being hard as you are
let me in your eye
i want to see
pass the test
without pain
without pain
without pain
let me in
you stone

not going to be saved by waiting, by wine, by screaming

for everything in the world
that keeps you alive
i smash my firmament
which collapses under you
until you tilt
and finally show up again

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