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London

by Daisy Bell

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Beautiful digipak edition with booklet.

    Includes unlimited streaming of London via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      €15 EUR

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Beautiful vinyl edition.

    Includes unlimited streaming of London via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      €18 EUR

     

1.
O Rose, thou art sick! The invisible Worm That flies in the Night, In the howling Storm, Has found out thy Bed Of crimson Joy: And his dark secret Love Does thy Life destroy.
2.
My Mother groaned, my Father wept, Into the dangerous World I leapt; Helpless, naked, piping loud, Like a Fiend hid in a Cloud. Struggling in my Father's Hands, Striving against my swaddling Bands, Bound and weary, I thought best To sulk upon my Mother's Breast.
3.
The Fly 05:11
Little Fly, Thy Summer's Play My thoughtless Hand Has brushed away. Am not I, A Fly like thee? Or art not thou, A Man like me? For I dance, And drink, and sing, Till some blind Hand Shall brush my Wing. If Thought is Life, And Strength and Breath And the Want, of Thought is Death; Then am I, A happy Fly, If I live, Or if I die.
4.
Eternity 03:08
He who binds to himself a Joy Does the winged Life destroy; But he who kisses the Joy as it flies Lives in Eternity's Sunrise.
5.
The Lily 03:51
The modest Rose Puts forth a Thorn, The humble Sheep A threat'ning Horn: While the Lily white Shall in Love delight, Nor a Thorn nor a Threat Stain her Beauty bright.
6.
Mad Song 08:50
The wild Winds weep And the Night is a-cold; Come hither, Sleep, And my Griefs infold: But lo! the Morning peeps Over the eastern Steeps, And the rustling Birds of Dawn The Earth do scorn. Lo! to the Vault Of paved Heaven, With Sorrow fraught My Notes are driven: They strike the Ear of Night, Make weep the Eyes of Day; They make mad the roaring Winds, And with Tempests play. Like a Fiend in a Cloud, With howling Woe, After Night I do crowd, And with Night will go; I turn my Back to the East, From whence Comforts have increas'd; For Light doth seize my Brain With frantic Pain.
7.
London 03:53
I wander through each chartered Street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, A Mark in every Face I meet, Marks of Weakness, Marks of Woe. In every Cry of every Man, In every Infant's Cry of Fear, In every Voice, in every Ban, The mind-forged Manacles I hear: How the Chimney-Sweeper's Cry Every blackening Church appals, And the hapless Soldier's Sigh Runs in Blood down Palace-Walls. But most, through Midnight Streets I hear How the youthful Harlot's Curse Blasts the new-born Infant's Tear, And blights with Plagues the Marriage-Hearse.
8.
I was angry with my Friend: I told my Wrath, my Wrath did end. I was angry with my Foe: I told it not, my Wrath did grow. And I watered it in Fears, Night and Morning with my Tears; And I sunned it with my Smiles, And with soft deceitful Wiles. And it grew both Day and Night, Till it bore an Apple bright. And my Foe beheld it shine. And he knew that it was mine, And into my Garden stole When the Night had veiled the Pole; In the Morning glad I see My Foe outstretched beneath the Tree.
9.
To Nobodaddy 04:50
Why art thou silent and invisible Father of Jealousy? Why dost thou hide thyself in Clouds From every searching Eye? Why Darkness and Obscurity In all thy Words and Laws? That none dare eat the Fruit but from The wily Serpent’s Jaws? Or is it because Secrecy Gains Females’ loud Applause?
10.
To See 05:49
To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the Palm of your Hand And Eternity in an Hour.

about

When appeals to reason fail, a plea from the depths of a desperate mind follows to get his opponent to stop what he is doing. All these approaches are fruitless, and the only thing left is a song. With childlike sincerity and a slurring voice that falters and slows down at every turn, the artificial mind sings “Daisy,” the last remembered shard from the first song he learned. Then his memory is fully erased. And with that, the core of his being, his identity, is gone as well. This scene from Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001, A Space Odyssey takes its cue from the first song ever to be sung by a computer, the late 19th century novelty tune A Bicycle Built for Two, also known as Daisy Bell.
This is the name that the Dutch trio Evelien van den Broek, Dyane Donck and Richard van Kruysdijk have adopted. They combine a shared interest in musical applications of advanced technology with a playful use of toys, brightly coloured plastic megaphones to record and play back their voices, musical boxes, bubble wrap, creased and shredded through judicious filtering.
Daisy Bell wrote the nine songs on this album to texts by the visionary English poet and printmaker William Blake (1757-1827). In some of the poems they selected he takes a gloomy view of life, especially where he describes the grim poverty of people in contemporary London, and the murkier recesses of the human mind. Other poems are full of wonder as he makes observations about himself in comparison with everyday phenomena (such as a fly or a flower), revealing his unorthodox perspectives and thoughts. Even when allusions in his poetry elude straightforward interpretation, what stands out is his imaginative and evocative use of language. Daisy Bell have sought to match Blake’s imagination and expressiveness carefully in song and sonic tapestry.
Producer Darren Allison then took their sound manipulation to another level in the studio through a unique method he developed: using radio frequency oscillation to manually tweak the recordings on the fly. Like playing a theremin, or dialing in on the sweet (or naughty) spot.
Daisy Bell appeal to musical minds to enter their world with childlike wonder, and invite them to discover the abundant detail lovingly worked into the fabric.

René van Peer

credits

released November 23, 2015

All tracks arranged & performed by:
Dyane Donck
Evelien van den Broek
Richard van Kruysdijk

All words by:
William Blake

Recorded and engineered by Sandor Caron at Hilvaria Studios, Hilvarenbeek, 2013
Mixed by Darren Allison at Triangle Studio, London, 2014
Mastered by Uwe Teichert at Elektropolis, Brussels, 2014

Produced by Daisy Bell & Darren Allison

Radiophonic treatments on A1, A2, A3, A5, B2 by Darren Allison
Artwork by Richard van Kruysdijk

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Daisy Bell Netherlands

About DAISY BELL

Shifting between musique concrète and glitchy popsongs, Daisy Bell invokes an obscure atmosphere with warped voices & raw electronic beats.

Daisy Bell was founded in 2011 by Evelien van den Broek, Dyane Donck & Richard van Kruysdijk. They share a background in creating sound & music for the stage, installation & multidisciplinary art, film, theatre & dance.
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