SOUNDTRACK: WIRE-“Outdoor Miner” (1978).
In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.
Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape. So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.
In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock. Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that. In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.
Wire is another band that is quite unlike most of the other bands on the mixtape. Over the years, Wire became a softer, somewhat more poppy band. But on their first couple of albums, they were pretty abrasive.
True, their music was unconventional–which Murdoch clearly likes, but unlike the other bands, this album, Chairs Missing starts with some really sharp guitars and heavy bass and drums. Although some of the later songs do have softer choruses.
Interestingly most of the songs on this record are quite short–almost half are under three minutes. Murdoch seems to like short songs, so “Outdoor Miner” being less than two minutes makes sense. It is also very different from most of the rest of the album. The bass is smooth, the guitars jangle and Colin Newman’s voice is really gentle. There’s also some gorgeous harmonies.
The chorus is really catchy and bouncy and the end of the song (keeping in mind the whole song is less than two minutes) features the chorus with another vocal line singing a counterpoint melody. It packs a lot of goodness in a small package.
[READ: January 31, 2021] Witches of Brooklyn
T. bought this book and knew I’d like it. She was very right.
I liked everything about his book. I especially liked the artwork. As I was admiring the book, I kept thinking that her artwork was different in some way. Then I read her biography and learned that Sophie Escabasse is French (she now lives in Brooklyn) and her favorite artist is Belgian cartoonist André François. I didn’t know his work (his books have recently been translated into english as Gomer Goof and Marsupilami). Escabasse’s work isn’t really like his at all, but they both share the European sensibility that I find different from American artists.
The main character Effie, is fairly straightforward looking, but her aunts are both wonderfully odd looking. Her Aunt Selimene looks almost like an inverted bowling pin with a long thin chin; Aunt Carolta is very wide and round with wideset eyes. But what sets her apart is that she wears the tiniest glasses on the bridge of her nose. When I first looked at her head on, I thought they were nostrils. But they are not and they are hilarious.
The book starts off unusually with the doorbell saying Driiiiing. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a doorbell ring start with a D before.
The doorbell rings and two old ladies clamber down the stairs to see who it is (grumbling humorously all the way). It is a man from Adoption services; he is with a little girl. He is wearing sunglasses even though it is 2 or 3 in the morning. He asks for Selimene Huchbolt-Walloo. She is sister to Emily? Yes. Then, in an astonishingly fast paced reveal, the man says that Selimene is now Effie’s legal guardian. (He doesn’t say that Emily died, it’s just implied, I guess). Selimene has a raging temper and yells at the poor man while Aunt Carolta, brings Effie inside and is very nice to her.
Effie is not too keen this arrangement and tells her stuffed animal that they need to get out of there.
I assumed that the story would be about Effie fighting with her aunts and trying to get away from them. But she decides that they are cool pretty quickly. Selimene apologies to Effie for the way she behaved and Effie says she’s never had a grown up apologize to her… ever.
We learn that Selimene and Emily didn’t really know each other. Selimene was already living abroad when Emily was born. (We never do find out how Emily died).
Soon enough we learn that Effie’s aunts are herbalists and acupuncturists,
You see everyday aches and pains don’t require heavy chemicals. For centuries people have used plants to heal them.
Effie has lots of questions, some of which they don’t answer (this upsets Effie, of course).
But she enjoys hearing Selimene talk about some of their clients, like Mrs Onery “A lunatic who comes here every Tuesday.” When Carlota yells about how mean that is she changes it to “An unbalanced noisy lady.” Mrs Onery comes in in the background yelling “I’ve been dying all week my pinky is killing me
But chapter one ends with the scary thought of registering Effie for school.
I was pleased that this book didn’t do a lot of school drama (that’s not what this is about) and she is put with two kids who welcome her immediately–Berrit and Oliver. Berrit is very emotional and Oliver is very cerebral. When Effie tells them that her mom died, Berrit gives her a huge hug and Oliver says that he lost his parents too and offers her help if she need sit. Oliver has a British au pair Archibald, who is pretty amusing
Then the plot enters the story in a flourish of excitement.
The kids all love a pop singer named Tily Shoo. She is huge (although Oliver thinks her songs are pretty bland). She is doing a concert in Central Park next week and all the kids are excited to go (except for our group who couldn’t get tickets).
The next night Tily’s crew bang on the aunt’s door. They don’t know who else to turn to and the aunts are famous for curing all manner of ailments. Tily came in with her head covered and when they took off the towel her face was bright red. She said that she had been at a party and woman had given her some kind of cream that would make her face even more beautiful.
She woke up dyed red. They have tried everything but nothing has worked.
When Effy realizes who is in their house she freaks out and gushes all over Tily. But Tily is not very nice to her and barely says a word. And then suddenly Effie feels dizzy and passes out.
When she wakes up her fingers are glowing and she feels very different.
That’s when her Aunts tells her that her witch powers have been activitared. In addition to being herbalists and acupuncturists, her ants are also witches and that they can do some pretty amazing things.
But noting they do helps Tily. Luckily, they have a couple of days until the show. Meanwhile Effie has to go to school while all this is going on.
School is fine until a mean girl in class starts making fun of Oliver, As Effie gets more angry, a snake that was in a picture on the wall suddenly comes to life and starts wrapping itself around the mean girl. Everyone flees the room and it slowly dawns of Effie that it may have been her fault. She contacts her aunts through an amulet (witches have been using cell phone technology for centuries) and they tell her that once she left the room her magic dissipated. But she has to keep her emotions under control.
So now Effie is a witch and she also has the most famous pop singer in her home.
Her aunts have tried their most powerful magic to reverse the curse. What can they possibly do to help this obnoxious girl who maybe deserves the trouble she’s in?
The answer is pretty interesting. And, no Effie doesn’t magically save the day–she’s not that good yet.
This book is the first in what I think is a trilogy. I’m looking forward to what else Effie and her friends get up ro.
Leave a Reply