|
| |
Steven Mark - Racing Grey
- To the point instrument work and songs full of vivid imagery, some positive, some negative, explains Racing Grey, by Steven Mark. His voice is stagnant on some tracks but that way his goal is made even more thoroughly. His timbre is hypnotic, whether the song is an upbeat one or one where he speaks of utter pain and heartache.
On “Abiingdon Square,” you can hear children in the background faintly, but then the sound builds up to a crescendo as Mark’s voice is introduced. He also lends his acoustic guitar ability to the track as he sings about a park located in Greenwich Village in the Empire State. Mark expounds on the spectacles and sounds he sees and hears at this busy location, with lyrics like, “I’m standin’ in the middle of the road not taken. Surrounded by the children I won’t know. I’m dreamin’ of the world in which our love’s forsaken. This time I don’t know how to let it go. And I know that I've seen your face before. Touch and go. On your knees, you kiss the floor. Cuz you’re the mayor, of Abiingdon Square. Abiingdon Square. For years there was a plan for you to climb and conquer. The strings were tied round your smile.” It seems the song is talking about a man that had prestige and promise, but who wasn’t himself because of his post. Mark’s vitriolic voice intimates a secret pain that listeners will pick up on if they listen intently.
On “Numb Yourself Inside,” there is lethargic piano play from Matt Wilcox who also exhibits his percussion prowess. Mark on guitar gives the track an anesthetized feeling that coincides with the song’s title. The piano play is somber as Mark emotes such lines as, “Twice a day you take your friend the glass is now half full…On tepid sunshine, push and pull. You are now prescribed. Will it take your breath away? Numb yourself inside, you will love another day. When you nuke your every feeling as you we’re taken for a ride. And you stop your heart from beating when you numb yourself inside.” It seems Mark is singing thinly veiled references to using narcotics to etherize the pain he feels. The somberness of his voice will show listeners how desperation has caused him to take such drastic action.
“Forever Tonight” sounds like a love song with its acoustic guitar work from Mark and percussion play from Wilcox, but the track talks about what Mark’s partner can do to make their relationship work. Yet, what he is asking of her isn’t very optimistic and listeners might question the direction the relationship is headed in, and if in fact it is a safe one, with lines like, “Low expectations are your key to survive. No complications and you and I will get along just fine. Go on with your talkin’ I don’t hear a thing, Tomorrow I’m walkin’ but here and now you’re my everything.” The forecast that Mark sees for them does not seem to be high and this might be a song played in a movie about a relationship gone bad due to miscommunication and failure to express oneself.
Steven Mark’s Racing Grey has tracks that illustrate the pain of love, its trials and tribulations. The instrument work is noteworthy, but for the most part, if you are looking for an album to listen to while you wallow in pity over a breakup or some other downtrodden event, Racing Grey fits the bill.
Reviewer: Sari N. Kent
new
Reviewer's Rating: 8.5
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0
Added: 20-Apr-2007
Talk to other readers about this story.
|
|
|
|
|
