Silverchair - Diorama
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Music CD Cover
Artist: SilverchairEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2002-08-27
Music Label: Atlantic
Soundtracks:
- Across the Night
- The Greatest View
- Without You
- World Upon Your Shoulders
- One Way Mule
- Tuna in the Brine
- Too Much Of Not Enough
- Luv Your Life
- Lever
- My Favorite Thing
- After All These Years
Free Music Notes for Diorama
Free Music Review: Thoroughly Well Done
Hit: 5 Stars
Quick overview of the album:
Intricate orchestration, fantastic chord progressions, an apparently new style of songwriting/composition, with intricate melodies and harmonies, and the angelic vocals of Daniel Johns, come together with pristine mixing and production, culminating in a totally cohesive, outside the box journey through possibilities in music. Diorama is easy enough on today's ears that any layman should enjoy it thoroughly, yet complex enough to tickle the finely tuned senses of any musician. To call it progressive would be inappropriate only as there are already connotations attached to the word. (The album is not progressive compared to, say, Dream Theater's "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory.") Daniel Johns, singer, guitar player, and songwriter, has described the album as "escapist," adding that he wanted to take the listener out of his/her world and into the colorful realms you will find in this album.
Johns' lyrics, generally simple and straightforward earlier in his career, have come to the point of poetry and intriguing riddles.
Tracks to hit:
"Across the Night", "Tuna in the Brine", and "After All These Years" are the most intricate and wonderful, followed by "My Favourite Thing" and "Luv Your Life."
Track reviews:
1. Across the Night
A sweeping two-part epic, in which Johns sings of his coming to peace/falling in love with the world which for so long seemed only to haunt and hurt him. Beginning with a nice harpsichord and vocal intro, the orchestra comes in with a bang and away we go, escaping into a "world within a world" (Johns' definition of diorama). In the glorious second part of the song, Johns perhaps expresses his feelings about being in a serious relationship.
2. The Greatest View
The first single of the album, melodic and relatively simple, a pleasant rock ballad.
3. Without You
Rock with poetic imagery, written in three, or six. The Chorus is a straight up rock waltz. A cool song, noteworthy on its own, though in this album, it may be considered a sort of lull, although its bridge is particularly nice.
4. World Upon Your Shoulders
A climbing, sympathetic, and encouraging piece, urging the listener to do what [one] can when one can bring one's self to do it, only put much more nicely. Ye of waning spirit, find an understanding soul reaching through these words! Perhaps this song shows us how Daniel climbed out of his bleak world view into a broader, more loving and accepting state of being.
5. One Way Mule
Dirty, Sexy, Gravel-voiced, Heavy, Slow, Sweaty. Hot. Good work. (Swoon)
6. Tuna in the Brine
Wonderfully, intricately, articulately orchestrated, this aquamarine epic dares to explore the dark, briny depths of addiction, deception, and fear. Sunlight trickles in through the surface from time to time, but we are definitely underwater here. This wonderful piece turns the listener around so many times with unexpected, disorienting, sophistocated changes that both chill and delight, putting shivers to the bone and goosebumps upon the flesh, that, pummelled by the crashing waves, we find ourselves near ocean floor, amongst the kelp, floating upright, captivated by bubbles rising, so deep that it may be difficult to tell which way is up; mercifully, Johns, Gillies, Joannou, Mac, and Parks guide us back through the murky, benthic depths to the sunlit surface; the build toward the climax a gulp of fresh air, but in the end, we are not off the hook...Johns leaves us with a haunted warning, and we are left floating...
7. Too Much Of Not Enough
A brief guitar intro soothes the unease and washes the palate clean of saltwater. A pleasant, yet burdened beginning builds to a chorus that is one of the hardest on the album. Lyrics also suggest that addictive behaviour was an inspiration for the song. Ends hauntingly.
8. Luv Your Life
One of the (Australian) radio favorites of the album, beautiful, charming. ('Doot Doot's even!) Lots of beauty between vocal harmonies and orchestra. More insightful than ever, words take us deeper into ourselves, with Johns lighting the way, teaching what he has learned, sharing his perspective. Uplifting, bordering on sappy at times, but if you let it be, this song is really nice. Parks' tasteful composition fills out the sound perfectly. Interlude is simply gorgeous. Tears form as though by command...
9. Lever
Hardest song on the album, and, oddly, the most like S&M orchestrally. Go figure. Gravel-voiced, hard rockin, a throwback to the angry days, perhaps; shows that Silverchair can still paint blacks, reds, and dark purples...when they want to.
10. My Favorite Thing
Way down from 'Lever', we are treated to a midnight lover's lullabye. Soft woodwinds and strings provide beautiful shading for this delicate, resolute, and passionate carress. Symphony, accoustic guitar, winds, strings, piano, and snare support and intertwine while Johns' precise, exceptional vocals complete the kiss. A beautiful, heartfelt song.
11. After All These Years
Piano and vocal, then orchestra. This is probably the most touching song on the whole album. Gentle, reflective, and reassuring, this gorgeous piece feels like it could have been written hundreds of years ago. In this arrangement, Daniel is both soloist and choir of angels. This is also by far the longest track on the album, but most of it is silence...bonus, a curious piano exploration awaits the patient (or those who fast forward), and takes us out of this 'world within a world.'
I can actually say that this album changed my life. huh.
afterthoughts:
Actually, my silverchair fanhood is a strange affair. my little brother bought frogstomp in 95 (6?), and i listened to it a fair amount then. i remember hearing quite a bit of 'abuse me' on the radio a little later, but i pretty much fell off the boat. i remember looking at freakshow at the record store, wanting it, but eventually not buying it. i have since listened to freakshow(2nd) and neon ballroom(3rd), and they are both good albums, showing the progress and growth of the musicians. "Cemetary" off freakshow and "Emotion Sickness" off ballroom seem to me forshadowing for diorama.
At the time I first heard this album, i thought Johns was the composer of all the orchestral parts, and was so thoroughly impressed that i was convinced he would be remembered for centuries as one of the great composers of our time.... which still may be true, but i was very seriously disappointed when i found out about Van Dyke Parks, who did the orchestration.
i had wanted to believe that Johns was truly the mastermind, but i suppose, in a way, he still was, for finding the right people to come together to bring out most completely his vision, even the parts that were relatively obscure/veiled to him.
To this day, the album has had an incredible effect on me as an artist. Certainly, it is some of the best modern music I've heard in my lifetime.
Diorama Poster
2002 album including 'Across The Night', 'The Greatest View', 'Without You', 'Tuna In The Brine' and After All These Years' (includes the hidden track 'Outro'). This is an enhanced CD including the bonus short film 'The Making Of Diorama'.The early word was that Silverchair--who at one time could have adopted the hip-hop moniker Lil' Nirvana--on their long-awaited fourth album had morphed into the antipodean Radiohead. But that's a bit of a stretch. Diorama, the band's first release in three years, instead finds the Australian trio shedding the hollow teen angst and beefy riffs of its earlier records in favor of epic melodies, meaningful lyrics, and a markedly more refined sound. The results are staggering. Featuring an orchestra section arranged by Van Dyke Parks, "The Greatest View" is a sweeping and soulful anthem. "World upon Your Shoulders" is a Guns 'N' Roses-caliber power ballad--and that's no bad thing, either. And "Without You" exhibits a determined, gripping delicacy not seen since, well, the last Radiohead album. Another giant leap forward. --Aidin Vaziri
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