Sinister: maybe the y2k's gonna bring the rain....

[ian]

the clouds hang over the sinister sands.  the beach is quiet.  it is dusk,
and any tourists hardy enough to brave the winds have long retired to their
petrol-pumping shelters and hurried off to a different world.
the breeze has dropped now, although a thin film of rain hangs in the air,
stinging our faces as the waves lap over our trainers.  not a good day to be
wearing corduroy.

before us, a trail of footprints.  they lead out of the water and up towards
the dunes, where they recede into the darkness that is starting to thicken
around us.

you take my hand and we follow them.  why not?  following the trail is easy,
and its comforting to know we're not alone.

for a while, neither of us speaks.  your shoes make a squelching sound as
the water seeps out of them, back into the sand.

the noise of the seagulls has ceased.  they are watching us silently,
pondering the strange habits of humans.  perhaps they are waiting for us to
die, so they can swoop down and peck at our eyes...

but dying is for tomorrow.  today, you and me are alive, and as the palm of
my hand gently caresses yours you begin to hum, almost imperceptibly.
it takes a couple of seconds, but i recognise the tune, and i start to sing
along, hesitantly at first but growing more sure of myself.

"she's very quiet, and very small
infact she's hardly there at all
that's what she is
and what she is
and what she iiis.......

a rotting rowboat lies abandoned on the sand.  the wood cracks under our
feet as we climb over the edge and sit ourselves where the seat used to be.
the last of the sunlight is fading, it touches the clouds with the softest
pink smile and we don't feel sad any more.

looper...you take the moments of your life and you share them with me.  and,
in this way, i start to feel like i have lived them too.  like the time we
danced madly in the water while "the balad of ray suzuki" played from your
cheap transistor, --- a bunch of loopers...damn right.

i'm glad stuart david left the group, if it was a choice between that or
there not being another looper album.  i have no idea how it will affect the
group dynamics, but it has been apparent for some time that the guy is
branching out.  perhaps b&s wasn't quite big enough to hold him any more.
 i love my twattybus album as much as any of the b&s recordings, but it
seemed not to fit together as well as the others.  the song that seems most
out of place is "space boy dream".  a lovely story, it always brings a smile
to my face, and the way it flows into "dirty dream number 2" is fantastic,
but i don't feel it fits with the general mood.  even the glam sounds and
muffled vocals of "electronic rennaissance", rather at odds with the rest of
tigermilk, seem....right..... somehow.  space boy dream seems like it should
have been on an e.p. somewhere.  or on a different album.  perhaps it just
doesn't sound like a b&s song.

okay, maybe a group should aim for diversity.  but i don't think the stu d
style and the stu m style was fitting together quite as well as it might
have done.  if, as he says, he has left the group amicably, i'm glad.  at
least this way he'll still be recording with them from time to time.  i'd
hate this band to have one of those unpleasant-split scenarios.  it seems
beneath them.

stu d seems to have been waiting for a change.  the whole theme of "who's
afraid of y2k" was "maybe everything will be allright soon.
maybe....perhaps.. the world will change and none of us will really have to
try to make it happen".
and when it didn't?  maybe he looked to himself for that change.

the looper album isn't the cleverest musical work i've ever heard.  the
lyrics aren't knowing, sarcastic or particularly witty.  the spoken word
format can seem a little cloying at times.  despite all this, i love it.
perhaps because of all this.  it came from someone's heart, a few moments
were snatched as they passed and someone was good enough to share them with
me.  i'm grateful for that.

i hope this doesn't change b&s too much.  i'd like them to stay subtle as
the wind is grey.  perhaps they'll grow through it.  guess we'll have to
wait and see.


the sun has set.  i pull my coat a little closer around myself.  the wind
has returned, and it drives the rain into my flesh, biting my skin.  i touch
the spot where you sat, and imagine i can still feel your warmth on the
wood.  my fingers are numb and my head is starting to ache.  i can't help
wondering where you went.

ian



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