Tutto, February, 1995
By Stefano Bianchi
Submitted by Niella
Translated by me
Visionary and "cursed", just like his father Tim. With Grace, Jeff has gained a prominent place among young rock poets. For an interview we went to Dublin and we attended his concert.
Scott Jeffrey Buckley, 27 years old, and born and raised in Southern California. In 1990 he moved to New York. The following year he performed at St. Anne's Church in Brooklyn in a tribute to his father Tim Buckley. As for his recordings, he made his debut in '93 with Live At Sin-e, a mini-cd with songs recorded live in the New York East Village.
He goes up on stage a few minutes before one in the morning. A bare stage, illuminated at least that of the Tivoli of Dublin, a local that prefers underground subsidies a few steps from the historic center.
Dublin in black, so that the night suits Jeff Buckley, the number one artist in 1994 for critics all over the world. Grace, his first work, has triggered comparisons with Tim Buckley, his father, an emblematic figure between folk and psychedelic of the 60s, struck down by an overdose in the summer of '75, at the age of 28. But he, Jeff, doesn't want to talk about his father; he does not want to be treated as a son of art.
An hour and a quarter of a concert; electric guitar with shoulder strap, accompanied by bassist Mick Grondahl, drummer Matt Johnson and guitarist Michael Tighe. To rattle off tracks like Dream Brother, So Real, Last Goodbye, Lilac Wine, Mojo Pin, Grace, Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, giving life to a musical game in black and white made of whispers and screams, pain and redemption, clinging body and spirit to pieces that decoil in the seemingly quiet driven by almost imperceptible sounds, and then exposed in the apocalyptic fury of the distorted guitars. Jeff Buckley has talent or a thrilling voice that ranges from warm timbres to falsetto, up to a demonic scream. Listening to him feels like reliving the emotions of Jim Morrison, Nick Cave and Nirvana.
We interviewed him before the performance, asking him how he came down from the compositional point of view in the reality that surrounds him: "Above all, I'm stimulated by feelings. What I wrote is what my brain perceives, and it doesn't necessarily have to be closely linked to reality."
Grace, a scrapbook of musical quotes that revive the 60s and 70s, and for Jeff, "a sarcophagus in which to put what I listened to and listened to: Ray Charles, Billie Holliday, The Birthday Party - the song Mojo Pin, for example, can remind some things of Nina Simone. However, the album has not been conceived by modulating each song on influences or retention points; I predict that the listener can judge it as "my", completely personal record."
He doesn't see himself as a songwriter in the most traditional sense, but a part of a band: "I think the band you rely on is an essential part of the creative and compositional process. Kurt Cobain was the 'focus' of his band, but he would not have existed as a singer-songwriter without Nirvana."
One of the characteristics of Grace is religiosity, which highlights in some tracks..."I agree, but it is completely random. In my case, the Church has not monopolized the meaning of my words. Grace is a love song with strong connections to death, while Corpus Christi Carol is dedicated to Roy, an old friend of mine who gives me a cassette with this song by the English composer Benjamin Britten. I liked it so much that I wanted to read it in my own way. Finally, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah not for the meaning of religious purity that anyone can see, but for more earthly reasons: pain, sex, orgasm and the cruelty of everyday life. I believe in people, not in heaven. Without people God would not exist, he would not make sense."
But you, have you found your own personal paradise? "It depends on the peace that I discover inside myself: and once found, how or how much I can live with it. Anyway, it's paradise enough to be what the soul asks of me. Music is often my heaven, and when I perform in concert it's there, at my fingertips."
By Stefano Bianchi
Submitted by Niella
Translated by me
Visionary and "cursed", just like his father Tim. With Grace, Jeff has gained a prominent place among young rock poets. For an interview we went to Dublin and we attended his concert.
Scott Jeffrey Buckley, 27 years old, and born and raised in Southern California. In 1990 he moved to New York. The following year he performed at St. Anne's Church in Brooklyn in a tribute to his father Tim Buckley. As for his recordings, he made his debut in '93 with Live At Sin-e, a mini-cd with songs recorded live in the New York East Village.
He goes up on stage a few minutes before one in the morning. A bare stage, illuminated at least that of the Tivoli of Dublin, a local that prefers underground subsidies a few steps from the historic center.
Dublin in black, so that the night suits Jeff Buckley, the number one artist in 1994 for critics all over the world. Grace, his first work, has triggered comparisons with Tim Buckley, his father, an emblematic figure between folk and psychedelic of the 60s, struck down by an overdose in the summer of '75, at the age of 28. But he, Jeff, doesn't want to talk about his father; he does not want to be treated as a son of art.
An hour and a quarter of a concert; electric guitar with shoulder strap, accompanied by bassist Mick Grondahl, drummer Matt Johnson and guitarist Michael Tighe. To rattle off tracks like Dream Brother, So Real, Last Goodbye, Lilac Wine, Mojo Pin, Grace, Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, giving life to a musical game in black and white made of whispers and screams, pain and redemption, clinging body and spirit to pieces that decoil in the seemingly quiet driven by almost imperceptible sounds, and then exposed in the apocalyptic fury of the distorted guitars. Jeff Buckley has talent or a thrilling voice that ranges from warm timbres to falsetto, up to a demonic scream. Listening to him feels like reliving the emotions of Jim Morrison, Nick Cave and Nirvana.
We interviewed him before the performance, asking him how he came down from the compositional point of view in the reality that surrounds him: "Above all, I'm stimulated by feelings. What I wrote is what my brain perceives, and it doesn't necessarily have to be closely linked to reality."
Grace, a scrapbook of musical quotes that revive the 60s and 70s, and for Jeff, "a sarcophagus in which to put what I listened to and listened to: Ray Charles, Billie Holliday, The Birthday Party - the song Mojo Pin, for example, can remind some things of Nina Simone. However, the album has not been conceived by modulating each song on influences or retention points; I predict that the listener can judge it as "my", completely personal record."
He doesn't see himself as a songwriter in the most traditional sense, but a part of a band: "I think the band you rely on is an essential part of the creative and compositional process. Kurt Cobain was the 'focus' of his band, but he would not have existed as a singer-songwriter without Nirvana."
One of the characteristics of Grace is religiosity, which highlights in some tracks..."I agree, but it is completely random. In my case, the Church has not monopolized the meaning of my words. Grace is a love song with strong connections to death, while Corpus Christi Carol is dedicated to Roy, an old friend of mine who gives me a cassette with this song by the English composer Benjamin Britten. I liked it so much that I wanted to read it in my own way. Finally, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah not for the meaning of religious purity that anyone can see, but for more earthly reasons: pain, sex, orgasm and the cruelty of everyday life. I believe in people, not in heaven. Without people God would not exist, he would not make sense."
But you, have you found your own personal paradise? "It depends on the peace that I discover inside myself: and once found, how or how much I can live with it. Anyway, it's paradise enough to be what the soul asks of me. Music is often my heaven, and when I perform in concert it's there, at my fingertips."
No comments:
Post a Comment