The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers
The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia
(bu hanan records
) 2005
"Roughly as big as my fist, it would break to see you again".
Perry Wright, the Arthur Digby Sellers
of The Prayers and Tears, was born on February 12,
1809 [in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky]. Approaching the math
with a new-world technique, that makes this able man 196 years young,
and at least three times as experienced as most of our grandparents
- and possibly a relative of Abraham Lincoln. So that's how you get
the knack for crafting songs as timeless as "Lisa", which
was my initial discovery to The Prayers and Tears of Arthur
Digby Sellers on the ESOPUS issue 4 companion disc
.
The Prayers and Tears latest release, The Mother of Love Emulates
The Shapes of Cynthia, is not only lengthy in title - but the twelve
tracks that fulfill the story follow in this pattern. In patterns, the
stated album traffics on somewhat of a theme that would impress the
physics portion of your family tree. Terms such as one Ptolemaic
Theory, or why & how all these circles called planets float
around one another up there, are believed to be a source of inspiration
[3]
for the elder Wright, and the gorgeous design that accompanies the album
(credited to Hale Dixon) follow. Like the tides, the planets and the
seasons - The Mother of Love Emulates The Shapes of Cynthia
encompasses the elegance and the grimness that comes with each - Perry
Wright, however, focuses intently on one large epidemic at hand: Love.
Take the opening composition "The Eventual Intimate of So Much
Nostalgia", an initially sparsely plucked acoustic anthem that
tells of "Polaroids that fade" that takes very little time
in becoming a full-on band affair - the track is parenthesistically
[1] named
(Hutchison Effect). We not only have a timeless album on our hands,
we have a solid scientific classroom of terminology for the novice.
On
"Concerning Lessons Learned from the Aliens", the albums evolution
begins (or continues) with a backing casio beat - reminiscent of early
onelinedrawing - and infuses the lesson with hints
of cello, chimes and airy guitar. Wright breaks our heart (as you will
hear, he does for most of the album) with a tale of one misplaced phone
number from the alienated opposite sex. Kind of Like Spitting
followers will put this track - hell, this entire album, atop the playlist
for months to come. It's beginning to feel like the home recording studio,
dubbed MakeOutCity, has a far more significant meaning to the insider(s)
than to us the occasional listener.
What makes
nearly every moment of each track placed on The Mother of Love Emulates
The Shapes of Cynthia so sweeping is the assumption that Perry
Wright has lived each of these tales [4].
Taking the closer "The Sad Lives of the Hollywood Lovers"
for inspection, he recounts an affair with a lover from Richmond (Virginia
- noted in the lengthy production notes
on the bands website)
who would meet able-minded Wright at a local hotel to "cast out
demons" when she tired of her (obviously useless) husband. This
5-minute glimpse is told over the Arthur Digby trademark sound of acoustic
guitar that, en route from track beginning to end, may see a distant
cello, piano or static backdrop (be it drums, a chorus or synth) step
in to fill the duty of proper heartache.
A near
fifty minutes of bewildering passion - or passion astray - is to be
found on this album.. . any reference to such cornerstones as Fevers
and Mirrors is justifiably valid (start with "Cannot Eat Better
Not Sleep"). In a word, exceptional - and they even found room
for the HandSonic [2]!
[1] "ontothanatological" - as in track 10 on
record. If he can do it, so can we.
[2] Roland
product used by trusted musicians, such as NC natives Hotel
Lights, to awe all surrounding. Here utilized on a track entitled
"The Slow Decay of Some Radio Afterglows.
[3] [see
attached]
[4] "Concerning
Lessons Learned from the Aliens" recounts paranormal 'abduction',
but I do believe.
+
kaleb
:: (08.08.05) 
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