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Journey into Discovery
If you were to seek retribution in a place of particular starkness, such as a desert, chances are the extremities of the surroundings, coupled with your inner turmoil, would make for a heady cocktail from which you might never fully recover. Never be the same person again. Face to face with nature's furious magnificence, your own petty hatred would stand up as being mightily insignificant. Andy Labrecque (devadas) takes us through a mystical, purifying journey on 'You can be love if you want to'. Backed by a motley crew of effortlessly talented musicians, he sculpts a musical piece which makes for an extremely engaging, if slightly uncomfortable listening experience.
This is not an easy song to grasp by any means. Those waiting for a reward for their patience at song's end in the form of a radio-friendly chorus or anything of the sort, would be better advised to seek clearer waters. In the murky depths of this treacherous slipstream, there are no hooks. There is no catch either. Much like the traveller chasing an elusive horizon, you're forced to eventually come to terms with the fact that the reward is in the suffering, that the real treat is in the journey itself. The spiritual essence of the song is revealed, bit by aching bit, through a soul that depends heavily on the east... a savagely contemplative collage of layered sounds.
Though it would be unfair to single out any member of Labrecque's excellent band, J. Mascis compulsorily deserves special mention due to his snatches of guitar wizardry. He's responsible for some moments which would make the neck on your hair stand on end, and then dance around a little bit. Tony Jarvis on bass, mellotron, vox, guitar and Nina Rao on the beautifully soulful mrdanga represent the serenity within the violence. It's their contributions which linger on in the end, blotting out the ravaged thoughts which had been floating around earlier. See. You really can be love after all. - Siddharth Dasgupta
Creating a unique sound and atmosphere while keeping a track interesting is something that is pulled off with success in You Can Be Love If You Want to, a new track from New York based artist Andy Labrecque (devadas). Great work on the lyrics and the vocals – the chorusing on the vocals being particularly effective. A minimalistic approach to the instrumentation with rhythms that are almost tribal in nature, it all builds to create an effective atmosphere and gives this track a really unique sound. Subtle ostinato patterns provide texture in the background and intertwine with roaring guitar solos, interjected between tastefully restrained vocal lines in the verses and choruses.
Created as a single from a forthcoming EP entitled "Love Songs to the Dust", You Can Be Love If You Want to has an almost arabesque sound to it thanks to the creative and quirky instrumentation (check out the percussion, it’s lovely to say the least). It almost has the feel of a Peter Gabriel track; even without a multi-million dollar recording, the rest is all there.
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Discography
First CD - "Dust" is out on Cafepress.com. All tracks can be heard for free at www.andylabrecque.com. Just click on the "music" link.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
When I was twelve years old, my next-door neighbor was abducted and impregnated by aliens. She was sucked into a space ship that no one else saw, experimented upon, artificially inseminated, dumped back into her bedroom and nine months later a baby was born. She moved away shortly thereafter without giving any real reasons, and none of us ever heard from her again.
I only came to find out about all this several years later, when I saw my neighbor on the Maury Povich show, confessing her story to The World. And somehow, suddenly everything made sense to me, like when she wrapped her house in aluminum foil, or started those "accidental" gasoline fires on her lawn, or when she gave me & my sister those envelopes stuffed full of fingernail clippings to mail to Santa Claus. (Debby stills has hers, if you want proof.)
It's a weird world. There's lots of questions and not too many answers. Not much point in looking for them, either.
Me? I write songs. I live in New York. I do other things, too. But mostly I write songs. That is all.
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