Freemasons ft. Bailey Tzuke - 'Uninvited'
If music were cooking, this song would be a magical transformation, where all of the ingredients are things which people tend to have extreme reactions to - I hesitate to say Marmite, cos it's all part of their devilishly clever marketing scheme, but you get the point - and which traditionally do not blend well with other extreme flavours. Somehow, in the act of mixing, the saltiness of the anchovies and olives start to weirdly compliment the cough syrup and blend with the liver and scampi-fries. Before you know it, you've a wonderful dish in front of you and you're wondering why no-one has tried cooking like this before.
How else can you explain the appeal of a song which is transparently just a combination of disparate elements which should not sit well together? Strident strings pling about, in a stark, cold, massively-repetitive fashion. They float high in the clouds above a hot, chuntering synth samba. It's a bit like the juxtaposition when G4 attempt to do pop music songs as if they were opera, only not salt-in-a-paper-cut irritating.
And then Bailey Tzuke starts to sing. Now, I'm not the biggest Evanescence fan in the world - bit over-dramatic for my tastes - but there's definitely a style of emotionally-heightened super-bleak gothic (in the original sense) singing, of which Amy Lee is the best example, and it is this style which Bailey taps into. Only she's mixing her Eastern European dark night of the soul with arabesques and curlicues and warbles which don't often find their way onto your normal breast-beating goth shreik-fest.
And the final gherkin on the trifle are the lyrics themselves, in which Bailey contentedly purrs "like anyone would be, I am flattered by your fascination with me".
Easy with the ego there, young missy, it's merely a professional interest, a bit like in CSI when they isolate the components of some liquid found at the scene of a crime, that's all. Well, that and a slight swoon at the unexpected delights of your song, obv.
Download: Out now
CD Released: October 22nd
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
you hit the spot there, great review, I don't know why I love this song but I do, it's one of the best records of the year I think. Maybe it's just a great song but I heard the original by Alanis and that's just too intense. This version rocks!
Yeah, why no mention of Alanis?
[I try not to, if I can help it. - Fraser]
Blimey! That was a bit good. I assume that Bailey is the daughter of Judie Tzuke aka one of the most underrated singers EVER. If os, nice to know it runs in the genes.
I would have checked, but that smacks a bit too much of working for a living, and my interweb monkey is on strike.
That's for sure a great cover , but I can't help keeping thinf of : " Why there is no mention to Alanis in this review since Uninvited is one of her carrer's highlights...
[Really? that's ALL you can think of? Read a book! - Fraser]