"oh, you turn on the light but you don't understand..." photo by Soloman Chiniquay
'Turning on the light' can mean a lot of things. It is sort of like 'opening your eyes'. Both can be a simple physical actions or can be analogous to realization, clarity, seeing the truth that is right in front of you, in front of your eyes, um, after you turn on the light, of course, because it is dark and you just came back from the liquor store. Ok, I will stop babbling right now.
The song "When You Turn on the Light" by the much loved Toronto based indie rock outfit Frog Eyes is something to behold. Quick aside, Frog Eyes did break up in 2018 but are back. The song, accompanied with a trippy, quirky Official Video as directed and edited by Derek Janzen, is a subtle yet dazzling bit of sonic art. Constructed on minimal sounds, a plucky bass and simple drums while ambient tones, sideways guitar shapes cascading down while Carey Mercer chews the vocal scenery and spits it out. As singer-songwriter, guitarist he paints an almost slow motion darkly drawn picture informed by the messy, painful stuff of life and quite possibly paint fumes.
Of the song, he shares:
"I never made music when I was 21. I wanted to be a painter. I lived in an apartment with friends in Vancouver, and my room was full of cans of toxic enamel-marine paint. I would wake up at 3:30pm and paint on my bedroom wall, this crazed fresco, a hellish umber landscape that glittered street light reflections from the enamel paint. I had to sleep by my open window because the fumes were atrocious, and I started to deteriorate, but the fresco was really coming along.
Some of the roommates were amazing musicians, some of them passed away. I think the song ‘When You Turn on the Light’ describes walking into my bedroom in that apartment.
One time, I came home from a late afternoon walk and the building manager was standing in my bedroom looking at the painting with a look of wonder but also fear, and the fear turned to anger when I walked in. She kept her food in our fridge because her roommate kept stealing her cream cheese, and we used to dread the sound of her key turning in our lock. But it meant we could eat her cream cheese. When she confronted me about the fresco, I told her I was enriching the apartment and lied about my standing in the world, describing upcoming shows in Milan and Turin. And Toronto, for believability. She left and we were evicted a bit later but I think it had more to do with other things and not just the fresco."
"I never made music when I was 21. I wanted to be a painter. I lived in an apartment with friends in Vancouver, and my room was full of cans of toxic enamel-marine paint. I would wake up at 3:30pm and paint on my bedroom wall, this crazed fresco, a hellish umber landscape that glittered street light reflections from the enamel paint. I had to sleep by my open window because the fumes were atrocious, and I started to deteriorate, but the fresco was really coming along.
Some of the roommates were amazing musicians, some of them passed away. I think the song ‘When You Turn on the Light’ describes walking into my bedroom in that apartment.
One time, I came home from a late afternoon walk and the building manager was standing in my bedroom looking at the painting with a look of wonder but also fear, and the fear turned to anger when I walked in. She kept her food in our fridge because her roommate kept stealing her cream cheese, and we used to dread the sound of her key turning in our lock. But it meant we could eat her cream cheese. When she confronted me about the fresco, I told her I was enriching the apartment and lied about my standing in the world, describing upcoming shows in Milan and Turin. And Toronto, for believability. She left and we were evicted a bit later but I think it had more to do with other things and not just the fresco."
At around 2:52, dreamy, even eerie, keys simmer while bass lines gingerly dance around them as the song takes a hard short breath. It is a beautiful shift in a song that after listening to often made me feel rather sad. Sometimes songs are just songs and sometimes songs if done up as sonic art are made up of deep emotional breaks, cracks or deep holes. When an artist or artists take that pain and create a portrait for everyone to stare at, sometimes those breaks, cracks, deep holes get patched over, just a little bit.
"When You Turn on the Light" is the debut track from the band's upcoming comeback album "The Bees" set to drop on April 29th via Paper Bag Records. Rad.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3azOXIFEfyA7FPIXxt9a09
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3azOXIFEfyA7FPIXxt9a09
Frog Eyes are back!
* * *
We get by with a little help from our friends
Frog Eyes, indie rock, art rock, alt rock, divergent rock, Toronto, Canada, reunited after 4 years, Brand new album, "The Bees", Paper Bag Records, "When You Turn on the Light", dark
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