Cassette Review: D'ora stella (old bicycle records)

[8 CHF // https://oldbicyclerecords.bandcamp.com/album/dora-stella] 

When this cassette begins, a number of people can be heard having conversations.   I'm not sure why, but I always link this sort of crowd feel to the lunchroom in a high school, or what some would simply call a cafeteria.   Even though the voices can sound like adults- as much as they are jumbled together and I cannot isolate a single one like Daredevil- it still makes me think of kids eating their lunches before going off to their next class.     

Acoustic guitar notes are plucked during this field recording and then a voice begins to gently sing.   While I understand (and think) that the sound of the background voices is something added into the track like you would add in a keyboard or drum machine, I still can't help but imagine this song being sung into a tape recorder in front of a crowd of people.   Since that idea of a cafeteria seems too childish to me, just imagine a food court in the mall or anywhere that there is a gathering of people allowed to talk freely.   (I mostly go to libraries and you have to be quiet there)

After the first song the crowd dies down, but the acoustic guitar and vocals remain through songs which remind me of anything from Animal Flag to The Beatles to Dead Western.   Those "Changes" type of pianos can come into play just as easily as birds chirping and whether or not it is lost in the translation these songs just feel dark.    They have a solemn sense to them, but also a certain amount of sadness.

I know that certain languages can bring about certain emotions but I won't get into stereotypes.  I will just say that even if you're just listening to the cello on the last song you should be able to hear that sorrow.   And again, it might even just be the style of singing (as with Dead Western) but these songs just seem like tragedies and I somehow find comfort in that.   

These songs can- and do- make me feel different things and not just despair.   There are feelings of being at peace as well as desolation.   But what you have to understand is that no matter how you hear these songs- even if your ears bring about the joy in them- there exists a resounding, undeniable beauty and for that you need to be listening to each and every one of these songs until they are all tattooed on your heart.