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"Even on the worst acid trip, the biggest danger is only yourself.." - Florian Lefevre1. Sweet Relief 2. Pyromania 3. Begone! Your Tragedy, Cast Aside 4. Lips, Hips and Lowering Zips 5. Lies, Tears and Fears for Years 6. Walking Blindly, Falling Without Wings 7. Escape Prosthesis, No Fate Awaits 8. Illusions 9. Pretty Faces Hide Behind Cosmetic Masks 10. Wake, Run, Hide, Repeat 11. Where is the Only Answer 12. My God! I Never Called Your Name 13. Walking Under Ladders [Friday] 14. Take A Bow and Smile Politely The TrackBegone! Your Tragedy, Cast Aside is the third song on the debut album Illusions by Sonnets and Novellas. The track is without a doubt the most prog-led and experimental of all on the record, and serves as something that lead singer Florian Lefevre describes as his "Pink Floyd moment", where he makes use of imagery from Alice in Wonderland, as well as a number of other sources to discuss the highs and lows of acid abuse and the comparison to sobriety and living in the real world. The track is deliberately fractured and modern in its structure, and provides numerous changes in tempo, all of which combine to help give the notion of being on drugs or under the influence.
The track begins very slowly, with only the bass and guitar playing a question and answer style riff, the bass quiet and gentle in the background, while the guitar dominates in the forefront of the sound, high and piercing. Despite being a very slow start to the track, it is also quite memorable and haunting, casting an eerie sort of aura across the start of the song. This goes on for the best part of half a minute, before the serenity and peace is shattered once again by the gruff calling voice of Florian Lefevre. In this track, the vocals are recorded in such a way that his voice sounds somehow more distant and less focus, less lucid, a technique used to give the illusion of detachment from the real world and the normal way of life. Throughout the opening verse, Lefevre's gruff and commanding voice is slow and morbid over the slow intro, matched by a new guitar riff that has also entered the fray following his interrupting of the status quo. The last line of the verse is sung in a very jumpy style, with Florian singing each word with a very definite plosive at the end as if to make it sound choppy and definitive. When the verse comes to an end, it marks the first very abrupt and notable change in tempo.
This change in pace instantly makes the song much faster as it takes on a sort of bluesy air. The guitars team up and harmonise on a flowing finger picked riff while the drums come on for the first time with a gentle backing to the music. As well as the change in tempo though, this part of the song also brings about a change in mood and tone, with the track being a lot happier and upbeat during the second verse. The strangest thing about this is that Lefevre's voice remains almost the same as he works his way through the next verse, showing the diversity in his skill and the way he can write something with two meanings and multiple applications all at once. Throughout the remainder of the track, this more complex and challenging musical section, happier and more vibrant, becomes the standard verse style, taking over from that more downbeat and sludgy sound that was used in the very first verse. It lends the rest of the track a sort of dreamy sound that becomes its signature, almost synonymous with the whole idea of dropping a tab of acid, and allowing people a look in the window of what it must be like to be Florian Lefevre.
For the choruses, which first comes in directly after the second chorus, the song drops the more fiddly and bluesy tone that it had just developed, turning more towards a standard rock riff. It also marks the very first time in the album that listeners have been able to really experience how much of a good singer Florian is, when he drops the more gruff musings adopted thus far, replacing them with a quite impressive and tuneful clean singing voice. The chorus is catchy and gentle, offering something of an analysis of the whole idea of being high as it talks about the ups and downs of using, and the music really helps it to stand out from the rest of the track to show that it is its own distinctive thought and not a part of the whole being high element of the track. It is mid-paced, rocky and entices a gentle nodding along to its pleasant tones.
The rest of the song alternates between the verses and chorus in the same way, with the skilled and technical verses providing a strange yet weirdly apt partner to the more downplayed and safe choruses and allowing the song an almost chaotic flow that even three songs into their debut album has become something of a signature dish of Sonnets and Novellas. The only times at the end of the track that it deviates from this sort of method is when the two bridges come in. The first is amid a crash of cymbals and drums, representing chaos while Lefevre and his band repeatedly yell "yeah!" at each other over and over. This is almost like a break in the track, and it works well as a punctuation mark, generally keeping the pace of the track in check and allowing the listener a chance to take everything in. The other change comes with the bridge before the final two choruses. This brings in a much quieter section in which the vocal lines are much longer, poetic and analytical, before the song then ends with a return to the pleasant choruses, bringing the whole concept and illusion of the track to a very rounded finale. The IllusionFlorian: "Where to start with this song...? Well, let me be honest and a complete wanker all at the same time. This is probably the truest and most accurate representation of the whole "illusion" concept on the whole album, given that it was written and recorded while in the throes of the very illusion that I was writing and singing about. This is most likely the song that people were expecting to hear when we first revealed we were doing an album all about illusions and stuff. Drug abuse, being high, fucked up and miles away from reality - it's all part of the package I guess. And yeah, I wrote the track while I was absolutely out of my face on acid, if I'm being honest. The band had sent me the tracks...music-wise...obviously, and I would listen through and decide what track fit each concept. As soon as I heard this song and its really chaotic structure and stuff, I knew this was my acid song. Its dreamy, trippy, odd and really just fucked up in places. I remember dropping the acid the night before I wrote my lyrics, and then getting fully inspired by it as a result. And then the next morning when I woke up I was just like "Shit....the track's totally done." Obviously that doesn't make for the most simple or easy to follow music really, and I'm sure a lot of people will challenge the imagery and the supposed glorifying of drug use throughout the song, but in all honesty, this is just a straight up and to the point commentary on being high, by a guy who was high at the time that he wrote the lyrics. Can you really get much more genuine than that?
"Composition wise, this song is definitely the weirdest point of the album, and I think it's important that it comes both early on and between probably the two most "normal" songs we wrote, if you will. A lot of the track, both musically and lyrically is a bit out there, but that's how we've always been, and that's what this illusion in particular called for. I like the idea of Alice in Wonderland being intertwined in the imagery at certain parts of the song, because it makes it feel even more fucked up....a song about drug abuse using a Disney cartoon to get its point across is somewhat ironic. I think if we all were to take the time to really sit down and watch Alice as adults though, we'd realise that that chick had probably dropped more tabs than the Beatles put together. So yeah, I used that movie as like my main starting point and just branched out from there, talking about highs and lows, the bullshit of lucidity and again I touched on the reverie notion. Like I say, it may not be something that everyone can empathise with, but in terms of the points I wanted to get across, I'm not sure I could have done it much better. Acid is a wondrous and adventurous thing, and even if people can't experience it themselves, maybe this is a track that will give them even just the smallest taste of what it does - acid allows you to see things that just don't exist to the naked eye. It can be the most colourful, amazing and sensational way to see the world, and it gives you a whole new perspective on what is really there, as well as what your mind is really capable of doing, which can actually be a bit of a scary notion at times. It's all about bright colours, sparks, fire and bangs. It's a wonderful experience.
"This song is a bit of a step away from the first two in terms of the whole album concept, I think, in that it's really quite frank. The last two were all about imagery to prove a point of power or escapism. This one is just right to the point. It's like "bang, I took some drugs and this is what I saw." In some ways, you might consider this one to be my Pink Floyd or Led Zep moment...and by the way, that's the only time you'll ever hear me compare myself to a bunch of legends like those guys. I was worried at first that the whole image of the song would come across as quite forced since I was deliberately setting out to get high for the purpose of writing it, but I'm pleased to say it didn't at all. Acid manages to...most of the time...give you that sort of clean high that other drugs can't. I'm not sitting here advocating drug use, by the way, it can fuck you up pretty bad, but it is probably one of the most innocent highs around. Even when you're on a bad trip the only danger is yourself, and it's something that you can always manage to ride through. Anyway, yeah, the song. Overall, I'm pleased with it. It's fucked up, it's weird, it's just full of crap that won't make a lot of sense to people who have never tried the things I've tried. But I think it's beautiful and I hope people appreciate it." Begone! Your Tragedy, Cast Aside100....hours ago! I tried to shut my thoughts out! I said goodbye to my underwire! I closed my eyes to stop it! This bed feels so co-o-ooold, the colours run and mind's still spinning! Picked at my skin, the acid rain keeps me from sleeping! Walked into my own head like a door to Wonderland There were flowers up to my thighs, went from bright to fading fast This white rabbit is my guide and prophet He freaks me out and brings me to my knees! Time stood still, no nightmares came to pass I'm sleepwalking Mirrors whisper Skin's crawling Shadows stalking No answers come from through the looking glassIf I could film my own mind, you would give me, mercy mercy mercy! I need a shield to filter bad trips from the highs you always bring Today I looked into a mirror and saw the worst of my own reflection The reality, no clouded dreams, no substance, an accurate recollection Yeah (YEAH!) Yeah (Yeeeeeah!)Time stood still, no nightmares came to pass I'm sleepwalking Mirrors whisper Skin's crawling Shadows stalking No answers come from through the looking glassWhere did my power go, I swear I could fly before I lay here Face smashed, dreams in tatters, I took the chance not fueled by beer Sprout wings sweet angel carry me to heaven before it's late Don't let this ground open and resign me to my lonely fate! Time stood still, no nightmares came to pass I'm sleepwalking Mirrors whisper Skin's crawling Shadows stalking No answers come from through the looking glassI'm drawn to you! Nights like this can't be my only escape from fate I'm begging you come close my gate Stop me chasing visions across the brightened meadows Close my mind and help me wait Give me the chance to cry to weep Take away my power, let me sleep! Time stood still, no nightmares came to pass I'm sleepwalking Mirrors whisper Skin's crawling Shadows stalking No answers come from through the looking glassTime stood still, no nightmares came to pass I'm sleepwalking Mirrors whisper Skin's crawling Shadows stalking No answers come from through the looking glass
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