Walk through the Church like doors of "Angel Of The Dying Self" by alternative musician, singer-songwriter Sandy Bell and her angelic baroque pop vocal countenance might hypnotize you. It is all incredibly dreamy, orchestral velvet curtains but hints of honky tonk piano mixed with classical shapes, cigarette smoke and mirrors with butterfly clipped lyrics:
"Oh the Angel flies over the house without blood on the door
Sees a boy ~ doesn’t wanna be a boy no more.
And the mother is feeding him sunshine with her fingers.
Wailing “My world, My world My world”
Whatcha doin to me?
Whatcha doing to me?"
Sees a boy ~ doesn’t wanna be a boy no more.
And the mother is feeding him sunshine with her fingers.
Wailing “My world, My world My world”
Whatcha doin to me?
Whatcha doing to me?"
Before you decipher the lyrics or even figure out what might be bold faced metaphors or lower case parables or real life, you will, in the least, fully realize that you are not in Kansas anymore.
"Angel Of The Dying Self" is the final single to accompany Sandy Bell's album "ENTELECHY"
"Angel Of The Dying Self" is the final single to accompany Sandy Bell's album "ENTELECHY"
From Liner Notes:
[The word ENTELECHY(en-ˈte-lə-kē) originates with Aristotle ~ ‘’That which realizes or makes actual what is otherwise merely potential.” Whether it be via her own imagination or something dispatched through the imaginal realm, Sandy has always been interested in what can be experienced but not seen. So from an earthly self who often feels disoriented - she seeks refuge in the non physical. Throughout the process of writing the record, she was able to commune with what she thinks of as her ENTELECHY - thus demanding an upheaval in her life force. The LP is supported by singles “Monster Trying To Be A Lover” and “Olivia Lumen.”]
[An album with songs that are mostly in through-composed form, ENTELECHY is a record that was written during what Bell refers to as a ‘breakdown on the forest floor’ and subsequently recorded with the layered opulence and precision of celestial arrangements by her partner and producer, Jeff Lipstein in Woodstock, NY. The album was mastered by Chris Gehringer (Lana Del Ray, Rosalia, St. Vincent) at Sterling Sound.]
Since I only pretend to be a deep thinker these days I seriously don't even know if I can grasp the metaphysical, spiritual, emotional tentacles that wrap around Sandy Bell's art. I do know from experience that listening to cathartic, artful music can somehow heal deep wounds if you allow the sonic medicine in. Just last night listening to a song that will remain nameless I broke into tears which made me look inside. I felt better afterwards.
Maybe I can be anything I want to be and if not, one can dream.
I hope you forgive me for running away.
I promise I’ll return to you some other day { no no no no }.
This is not a mistake { no no no no }.
And things aren’t as dark as they seem.
But I need to be everything I’m supposed to be.
You can be anything you want to be.
I promise I’ll return to you some other day { no no no no }.
This is not a mistake { no no no no }.
And things aren’t as dark as they seem.
But I need to be everything I’m supposed to be.
You can be anything you want to be.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5To0ANzfjoySLXyMgYHUnZ
https://www.instagram.com/_s.a.n.d.y.b.e.l.l._/
https://sandybell.bandcamp.com/album/entelechy
Sandy Bell plumbs the damaged American psyche transmuting the bone-core despair of broken American dreams into a cathedral of songs – a cathartic transfiguration of pain to reckoning. Her debut album, When I Leave Ohio (2017), is an intensely personal excavation of broken dreams, love, and the damage of quiet rage. Joan As Police Woman’s violin snakes through birds and blue eyeshadow and the lush, enunciated musical production, while Bell’s voice floats over all like a ghostly prayer. Stereo Embers Magazine writes of Bell’s debut: “When I Leave Ohio is one of the darkest, most moving song cycles this critic has heard since Patty Griffin’s Living With Ghosts or Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska ...Sandy Bell’s songs have such poetic precision and crushing emotional exactitude, her work is nothing short of staggering.” Bell's 2023 release, ENTELECHY (en-ˈte-lə-kē) is inspired by the invisible forces of our mysterious world, the songs mirror the intricacies of cellular biology, the aching heartbeat of dark pines. Music critic Alex Green raved that Entelechy “explores the geometry of both musical form and sorrow, while the cathartic transmutation of grief into promise will take you somewhere between the worlds of Harry Nilsson and Kate Bush.” Notable collaborations have included vocals on the Bat For Lashes album The Bride as well as recordings with the Eternally brilliant, Jeff Buckley. She most recently opened for Rachael Yamagata on her Galactic Trees Tour (2022).
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5To0ANzfjoySLXyMgYHUnZ
https://www.instagram.com/_s.a.n.d.y.b.e.l.l._/
https://sandybell.bandcamp.com/album/entelechy
Sandy Bell plumbs the damaged American psyche transmuting the bone-core despair of broken American dreams into a cathedral of songs – a cathartic transfiguration of pain to reckoning. Her debut album, When I Leave Ohio (2017), is an intensely personal excavation of broken dreams, love, and the damage of quiet rage. Joan As Police Woman’s violin snakes through birds and blue eyeshadow and the lush, enunciated musical production, while Bell’s voice floats over all like a ghostly prayer. Stereo Embers Magazine writes of Bell’s debut: “When I Leave Ohio is one of the darkest, most moving song cycles this critic has heard since Patty Griffin’s Living With Ghosts or Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska ...Sandy Bell’s songs have such poetic precision and crushing emotional exactitude, her work is nothing short of staggering.” Bell's 2023 release, ENTELECHY (en-ˈte-lə-kē) is inspired by the invisible forces of our mysterious world, the songs mirror the intricacies of cellular biology, the aching heartbeat of dark pines. Music critic Alex Green raved that Entelechy “explores the geometry of both musical form and sorrow, while the cathartic transmutation of grief into promise will take you somewhere between the worlds of Harry Nilsson and Kate Bush.” Notable collaborations have included vocals on the Bat For Lashes album The Bride as well as recordings with the Eternally brilliant, Jeff Buckley. She most recently opened for Rachael Yamagata on her Galactic Trees Tour (2022).
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