I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: DARLINGSIDE-Whippoorwill EP (2016).

This EP is a collection of some B-sides and Outtakes from their fantastic album Birds Say.  There are five songs, included a stunning cover of Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979.”

The other four songs are the lovely “Whippoorwill” punctuated by scratches from the mandolin and guitar at the end of each line.  Lead vocals seem to be from Auyon, but there’s very rarely one lead vocalist here.  And just when you think the song is a pretty folk song, the end gets bigger, with a cool bass line and louder harmonies.

“Fourth of July” is all about harmonies and a propulsive chorus.  And “Open Door” is almost a capella.  The only music for a time is the scratching of Harris Paseltine’s guitar strings as a rhythm while all four sing beautifully.  This song is faster than many of their others and even features a whistling solo.  There is some minimal violin on this track but it really feels fully a capella.

“Blow the House Down” is an old song (from their debut–when they had a drummer!) reissued here as a foursome.  What’s notable about it is that vocals are supplied almost exclusively by bassist David Senft.  Rather interesting humming bass backing vocals are supplied by everyone else.  It ends with a wailing (for them) noisy solo from Don Mitchell’s electric guitar and Auyon’s violin (it’s even more intense live).

The final song is their terrific cover of “1979.”  I’ve always thought the music for this song was wonderful.  But hearing their version of it I realized how much Corgan’s voice kinda ruins the song.  Hearing these guys harmonize the verse is pretty great.  But hearing them sing full-out on the chorus “I don’t even care” is utterly gorgeous.  Their version is the gold standard for this song now.  It’s a great EP (and three of the guys signed it for me!).

[READ: November 5, 2017] Castle in the Stars

This gorgeous graphic novel was originally published in French and was translated by Anne and Owen Smith.

The title is an intriguing one and while initially confusing, it makes perfect scene when you realize the book is about ballooning: “1868: The Age of Progress, an era of industry… beyond the blue of the sky, where the cold freezes the breath, where the air disappears…the mysetry begins.”

For this story is not just about ballooning, it is about The Secret of Aether.

The story is about young Seraphin. As the book opens, his mother is going into the balloon. His father is yelling at her that she is crazy to go up in the is weather (gorgeous ominous clouds fill the full page). He tries to guilt her into not going.  But her balloon is equipped with a bulb that will light when it gets to the aether, which is her quest.  Then she is up in the air writing in her journal.

She rises to 12,000 meters but… nothing. She’s about to give up when at 12,900 meters the bulb shines brightly and then explodes.  She found it! And she is never seen again.

The next page moves forward one year.  Seraphin is in school and is obsessed with Aether–all of his school projects involve it (much to his teachers’ dismay).  When he gets home there is a note from an anonymous person.  It says that the man has found Seraphin’s mother’s logbook from the journey and it includes a train ticket.

Serpahin’s father doesn’t want to get his hopes up but Seraphin insists, and so they travel

Things are a little confusing through some of these sections, because there are some spies and double crossings.  Suffice it to say that someone tries to stop them on the way to Bavaria and they escape by running across the tops of the trains.  They arrive in Bavaria where Sepahin has his first ever pretzel.   While his father is trying to find out what’s going on, Serpahin meets the first comic relief character in the book.

So the entire book is gorgeous–beautiful subtle watercolors and very realistic images–Serphin’s mother is quite beautiful for instance.  But this new character Hans is decidedly cartoony.  He has an elongated mouth, a piggish nose and looks far more anime that anyone else.  It’s a little weird, but he is obviously meant to be a comic character. He arrives while his own balloon is floating away–he is rescued by Seraphin. (The comic scene involves Seraphin crashing in on a girl taking a bath (G rated).

Turns out that Serpahin’s dad has been hired to creates a balloon–a very fancy one with three levels, an orchestra, a chapel, and a mess hall.  It will never fly, but His father will do his best.

Meanwhile, the man who was after them at the train station arrives.

By Chapter three the three children: Seraphin, Hans and the girl in the bathtub (who is awesome and whose name is Sophie), agree to work together calling themselves “The Knights of Aether.”  In the previous scene, someone asks have you ever heard of a girl knight and she retorts, “The world is changing, you idiot, in the age of aether, girls can have courage too.”

The final chapter shows the suspicious man with the big mustache furiously copying down the false notes that Seraphin’s father is creating for his fantastic balloon.

They begin construction, with Seraphin and Hans as his assistants.  But things with Hans didn’t go too smoothly, so they hired a new boy who turned out to be Sophie dressed like a boy!

As the book ends there’s much consternation and fighting and the final few panels see our heroes fleeing on a balloon as the bad guy tries to shoot them down with fireworks. And of course just to add to the excitement, Seraphin has to slide down the rope to cut loose the anchor.  It’s very exciting!

I’m pleased to see that there’s only one more book in the series.  And I’m really looking forward to it.