La Linotte

Track-by-track!

Info on albums release and production credits to come after all tracks are updated and released. Two songs to be released every day, hopefully. Emphasis on the hopefully.




1. At Home (5:15) (Indie Pop/ Baroque Pop)

A short intro can be heard when the drummer taps his sticks together at a medium pace three times, before a wall of sound appears, including a piano, acoustic guitar, bass, the drums and a slide guitar which can be faintly heard in the background. The melody itself is quite slow and ethereal, and almost dreamy in a sense that it isn’t particularly minor or major. The piano, an instrument which Madeleine Rameau also regularly plays, is the main instrument here and the furthest forward in the mix, so you can hear the vocal melody that will become apparent in the verses being played out. The acoustic guitar is slowly strumming in the background, with the slide guitar using echo effects, due to the production of Jason Smith, making it sound even more ethereal. Jason decides to revert to bass for this song and plays a quite simple, yet very effective bass line, which is audible enough to matter, yet also relatively subtle. The chorus introduces the song with many layers of Madeleine’s vocals singing it in a falsetto tone. The piano is at the higher end of the scale here. The tune goes on until it reaches the first verse, when the slide guitar drops out and the tune gets slightly quieter. The piano takes on a different tune, one more reminiscent of the guitar melody. Madeleine is singing in a soulful, emotional jazz voice, which is quiet, but you can still make out what she is saying. After the verses finish, it goes back into the chorus, except with organs, similar to the Baroque era of classical music, appear, playing a mournful melody similar to that of the guitar, except they are barely audible, so as it doesn’t distract from the actual song itself. It goes to another verse again, except only the acoustic guitar and drums are audible for the first part. On the third line, a clunky piano and funkier bass are suddenly introduced into the mix, as well as an alien sounding Theremin courtesy of Jason Smith stuck in the background of the song, making it feel even more dream like. Following this, two more choruses play themselves out, and everything is kicked up a little. The instruments are louder, the vocal layers in the background are getting more emphatic and there are now symphonic elements such as violins in the song. This goes on until the last two lines, where everything cuts out to Madeleine and her guitar, with her singing in a falsetto. The song then fades out with that same guitar melody and Madeleine vocalising.

Sometimes I get the feeling...
I’m moving past the healing.
And you can’t drink the holy water,
Just to make sure that you’re still breathing.

You pull the snake from your mouth...
And you swim past your emotions,
Your in a dark place now.
Where feeling is such an amusing notion...
Cause sometimes I get the feeling...
I’m looking towards the ceiling,
You’re a big girl now.
It’s time to begin the kneeling.

I can pull the wire,
And part it from it’s brother,
Your courage I admire...
And for me there is no other.
Every drop of acid rain,
Causes such immense pain,
But I’m a masochist,
So I will remain sane.

Sometimes I get the feeling...
I’m moving past the healing.
And you can’t drink the holy water,
Just to make sure that you’re still breathing.

We both know the reason why...
You chose to carry on and die,
But you have no regrets.
I’ll note your name to carve my eyes.
I’ll believe in anything...
I’m so delirious with joy, I could sing.
We’re all grown ups now.
With a pinch of salt rubbed in.

Sometimes I get the feeling...
I’m moving past the healing.
And you can’t drink the holy water,
Just to make sure that you’re still breathing.

Sometimes I get the feeling...
I’m moving past the healing.
And you can’t drink the holy water,
Just to make sure that you’re still breathing.

I’m at home, I’m at home.
Yes, I can tell I’m at home.




2. Rabbits Feet (4:10) (Fuzz Folk/ Folk Rock)

Some fast paced, folksy acoustic strumming plays the first bar of the song, followed by nothing except drum sticks tapping and the introductory “Un... deux... un deux trois quatre!” from Madeleine to kick the song off. After the count in, a wall of sound appears, before bubbling down into a mixture of an electric and acoustic guitar strumming the same chord, alongside an accordion and hurdy-gurdy, with some precise, neat drumming in the back. All of these instruments, drumming aside, are being played on separate layers by Maddie though, of course, they were recorded at different times, otherwise that would be silly. There is a fuzzy, Shoegaze layer going on in the background, mostly on the distorted electric guitars, to give it a nice effect, reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel. It then goes into an upbeat little melody, with Maddie singing the initial verses lyrics over it in a powerful, loud, vaguely punk voice. The folk instruments are still going on the back, playing their own little melody together, although they are now joined by brass instruments on every other line. The whole song gives off a feeling of jovial triumph and happiness thus far, despite the relatively dark and cryptic lyrics. It then goes into the equally upbeat chorus, with more brass instruments, and a slightly different melody, one more reminiscent of a folk song being played on the electric as opposed to an indie song. The chorus then finishes up to go back into another verse, which is much similar to the first, except the layers are now building around each other, and even more instruments are coming in, such as the piano, violin and tambourine. As opposed to sounding cluttered and convulted, however, this merely makes the song even more accessible and likeable, and is almost what one would describe as epic. After this verse, and then another chorus, it goes into the bridge, consisting of slightly different, lower pitched guitar melodies and a large emphasis on the brass instruments as opposed to the accordion/ hurdy-gurdy. Madeleine sings in a more traditional, almost jazz inflicted voice for this part, following every single part of the melody with the vocals. The bridge follows and, with no change in pace, it continues for one more verse and refrain of the chorus. It is then concluded with all the instruments briefly cutting out and then entering for one last big finish, with Maddie softly singing her line, before they all conclude once and for all.

Un... deux... un, deux, trois, quatre!

There was only one person you ever loved...
Felt like the heaven’s falling from above...
But instead I draw circles around your heart,
Trying to frame a piece of art,
Angels are flying without grace,
Just to escape this dreadful place,
And you remember that song we sung,
Those catchy tunes when we were young...

And I always dream of then,
I dream of I don’t know when,
I say that I’ve never been...
The one to cry...

There’s only one man I’ll ever love...
Troubles that fit like hand in glove...
The glove is blackened by the coal,
Retracted diamonds in your soul,
I’d always be there by your side,
That was until the day you died,
I still remember that very day,
The stupid songs we used to play...

And I always dream of there,
It makes me feel like I’m going somewhere,
I’ll say that I never went,
Just to make you feel better...

But I wrote that letter.
I wrote the letter!
Is this all you need,
To carry on?

You carry on until you bleed...
In fact, it’ll help to sow the seed...
I still remember you alive,
That day you struggled to survive,
Dismembered body parts I see,
In place of rabbits feet for me,
I still look back to when we were lost,
And ponder the true meaning of the cost...

And I’ll always think of you,
Whether you want me too,
And I say that I’ll be the one,
Who never knew the better...

But I wrote that letter.

TBC

OOC: Thanks man, means a lot :D I've enjoyed writing these lyrics more than I usually do, which definitely helps.

Ashton: Alex I'm gonna ring your fucking tattooed neck you little shit. Stfu!

Ooc: Great work man. Love it :)

Radio: Really liking the tracks... good job doll...

Erich: this is the sort of thing i dig. It's like grits with freebase butter and a side of bacon. Not that girly ass thin sliced bacon,or even what supermarkets dub "thick sliced "bacon". I mean slabs 'o bacon so thick, they bend the tines of normal forks,under their bacony heft. Bacon so thick,it could be mistaken for a greasy piece of lumber. Bacon so motherfucking thick,even a,texan would say," god damn,that IS some thick bacon!".

Karoliena: ok we get the point. You sound like a fat kid off his meds.

Erich: i likes me bacon.

Karoliena: i know honey,but you're scaring people.

Magie: 'At Home' is a very touchable song! very beautiful I like it ;)

3. Paris (3:45) (Folk Pop/ Indie Pop)

Rolling, gentle drumming patterns and a guitar playing an unusual, yet strangely uplifting melody immediately enter the forefront. This goes on for a few bars, until the tension rises slightly, and it then bursts back out with the same drumming and acoustic patterns, although a light arpeggiated electric guitar, bass and accordion have now entered the main mix as well, with the accordion making the lead on the song with a nice, gentle melody that is instantly recognisable as French. It is a simple, but very nice and very catchy combination of rhythm and melody, and may possibly bring traditional French music back into the mainstream due to its combination with Indie music. It then gets to the first verse, which consists of Maddie singing gently through what sounds like a megaphone. This is meant to represent the vastness of the city... how hard it is to have your voice heard. So, although her voice is soft, the megaphone gives it a quite cool effect. The initial two verses are carried out as normal, before it reaches the chorus, which consists of everything slowing down slightly and boiling down into a gentler style more reminiscent of Chanson with a couple of guitar pieces and traditional folk instruments added to the forefront. Madeleine and a few other unnamed folk singers from her folk club in France sing the chorus emotionally, yet quite loudly and with slight punk overtones. The last line in the chorus “Pa-pa-pa-Paris” has the other singers vocalising in a high pitched voice in the background, whilst Maddie gently goes back to her megaphone. After this, it goes back into the melody, except that another guitar layer is now assisting the accordion with its happy, traditional melody. However, now in the background, you can hear people chanting in French every now and then, to add to the lovable rawness of the song. The whole song proceeds to continue in a pretty basic, yet necessary verse-chorus-verse format, as it lets the song breathe and makes it catchier. The song ends with the accordion playing the melody out on its own, with an extended note leading into the next song.

Je marche seul par les rues.
En signe de solidarité, mais pas sur le mien.
Je me sens aussi libre que le jour où je suis né,
Libre comme le jour que j'ai déchiré le long des murs.

Sous les lumières de la ville,
Je me sens complètement à l'aise,
Je me sens complètement à la maison une fois de plus,
Et je ne suis jamais vieillissement.

Et je pense que je suis amoureux de nouveau,
En amour avec la ville.
Pa-pa-pa-Paris.

Sous les lumières de la ville,
Je me sens complètement à l'aise,
Je me sens complètement à la maison une fois de plus,
Et je ne suis jamais vieillissement.

Et je pense que je suis amoureux de nouveau,
En amour avec la ville.
Pa-pa-pa-Paris.

Et je pense que je suis amoureux de nouveau,
En amour avec la ville.
Pa-pa-pa-Paris.

Le fils, le père, le Saint-Esprit,
Je sais encore ce que je suis le plus besoin,
J'ai besoin de toi, j'ai besoin de toi,
Paris.

Et je pense que je suis amoureux de nouveau,
En amour avec la ville.
Pa-pa-pa-Paris.




4. Rule the Night (4:27) (Indie Rock/ Alternative Rock)

The song kicks off with the remainder of the accordion note of the last song playing, with slight synth flourishes emerging in the background. Eventually, some electric guitar notes and bass drum stomps can be heard, before it all leads into the song exploding into a catchy indie rock melody, with a very strong bassline, brought to the forefront of the song. The song has some Jason Smith production traits, including the comfortable Shoegaze noise in the back of the song, the largely mixed bass and the light synths. This sounds almost like an indie anthem, one that you can see becoming a live staple. Once it gets to the verse, the electric guitar and noise drops out, leaving the bass, drums and slight synth touches remaining as Maddie powerfully sings her lyrics over the top. At some points during the verse, violins can be heard playing in the background. After this initial verse, it evolves into a pre-chorus, when all the instruments return, playing a slightly melancholy, yet no slower or less energetic melody, with Maddie singing in a slightly lower, jazzier pitch. The pre-chorus finishes, and, without actually going into the chorus, goes into the French verse, with slightly louder instrumentation and chanting now audible in the background of the song. It isn’t the chanting of a massive crowd, rather the chanting of a small group of people. The verse finishes and, after a small wall of sound, evolves back into the pre-chorus which continues as normal. However, it then goes into the actual chorus, consisting of the same initial melody at the beginning of the song being mixed with the melody of the verses. Maddie has many layered vocals here, most of them doing breathy vocalisations in the background of the song to support the actual lyrics. The main vocal track consists of her singing in a reasonably low pitch, similar to that of the pre-chorus. The chorus finishes proceeding back into the pre-chorus, before it then goes into a bridge. Although the vocal melody is exactly the same, the drums have devolved into rhythmic poundings and the guitar is playing the sharp, short notes in the beginning as opposed to an actual flowing riff. Everything is much more subdued. After this bridge, everything speeds up slightly and bursts back into life with the normal riff, going straight back into the pre-chorus, followed by the chorus. The song ends with everything slowing down into a halt, before fading out slowly.

Now you’ve cut me open to drink my blood.
And kick my shins so I fall in mud.
So I’ll pick myself up again.
And I’ll still try to make amends.

Je crains qu'il n'y ait pas de point tournant d'ici.
Alors crier si vous voulez aller plus vite.

Sauve-moi, pour mon Dieu ne le permettra pas.
Mettez hors de la douleur pour une seule seconde.
Sauve-moi, pour mon Dieu ne le permettra pas.
Des langues de feu et des fouets d'or!

Je crains qu'il n'y ait pas de point tournant d'ici.
Alors crier si vous voulez aller plus vite.
Now you’re just wasting my time.

Oh my feral child, will you sing tonight?
Oh little feral child, can you just sing?
‘Cause I tell you kid, that if you don’t,
Mummy won’t buy you no diamond ring.

Je crains qu'il n'y ait pas de point tournant d'ici.
Alors crier si vous voulez aller plus vite.

And when the bell does toll and we go home...
I hope you know I’ll thinking of you.
Your turn to move, it is again.
I’ll still try to make amends.

Je crains qu'il n'y ait pas de point tournant d'ici.
Alors crier si vous voulez aller plus vite.
We used to rule the night!

Oh my feral child, will you sing tonight?
Oh little feral child, can you just sing?
‘Cause I tell you kid, that if you don’t,
Mummy won’t buy you no diamond ring.

Johnny: I can't say enough about this record. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

A couple of more... out there... tracks today.



5. Le Plus Angoissantes de Bonheur (5:08) (Psych Folk/ Freak Folk)

Weird, unusual gibberish voices that sound like the result of an acid trip introduce the sound loudly speaking indecipherable words. A loud acoustic guitar breaks through the noise, and the voices go on for a few more bars as the guitar continuously plays one note for about 10 seconds. After this, another few notes come in, making the song sound quite unusual, yet upbeat, to contrast with the dark subject matter. It is absolutely manic, but will definitely wake the listener up if they aren’t already. After about 30 seconds, more instruments such as xylophones, tambourines and extra vocal layers are brought into the song, still making it sound quite stripped down and raw, although also making it sound crazy and unusual, just the way it was intended. This can also be due to the fact that the song makes use of polyrhythms and is quite reminiscent of some stuff by Animal Collective. By this point, the voices have ceased altogether and are soon replaced by two vocal layers from Maddie sing the lyrics quite quickly and with zany, high pitched melodies that are avant-garde, yet strangely hummable and catchy. The first two verses go on at a fast pace with some background ambience slowly, but surely, being added into the mix. At the end of the second verse, an accordion then makes its way in as well, assisting the rhythm guitar. The chorus consists in the guitar simplifying down a little, all the background instruments, tambourine aside, exiting from the mix and the two vocals layers singing the lyrics in a relatively slow fashion, in a pure, folky voice, with one layer taking care of the high pitched vocals and the other singing out a lower pitched vocal. The chorus finishes and it goes into a little break, with the guitars playing a slightly different melody and distorted bird samples playing in the background at the end of each line, to add to the trippiness of the song. The little bridge finishes leading into another verse, which is continued in much the same fashion as the first two, except with more wall of sound layers that are common of the production work of Jason Smith. After the verse concludes itself, it goes back into a bridge which is similar to the last one, except the vocals are now taking over the guitar melody, whilst the guitar plays a different melody. This bridge then leads into the final chorus, which carries on as unusual and ends the song back into the weird, distorted voices, then cutting out completely.

I burned my bridges to watch all the little people tumble down...
Climbing up the anthill just to watch them collide with the ground...
My carriage consists solely of piggybacks and whips...
Whimsical adventures that are severed at the hips.

You could crown the lovers and then blow them all down...
You can huff and you can puff, as long as you make a sound.
There’s a certain flicker in your eye that screams of a genius,
But you waste it away just to say that you’re leaving us.

I find more joy in agony these days.
Yet I can’t find myself turning away.
Try to forget about the useless things...
I try to take your hand and seize the day.

A morbid fascination that’s turned into something more...
Turn off the lights, destroy all your morals and don’t forget to lock the door.
A black carnation emergent in the core of your head...
To be frank, I think we’d all be better off dead.

Dyadadadadadadada! (HEY!)
Dyadadadadadadada! (HEY!)
Dyadadadadadadada! (HEY!)
Dyadadadadadadada! (HEY!)

I find more joy in agony these days.
Yet I can’t find myself turning away.
Try to forget about the useless things...
I try to take your hand and seize the day.




6. La Linotte (7:44) (Alternative Pop/ Symphonic Pop)

The title track of the album is a massive curveball and differs greatly from anything else you will hear. Starting off with a gentle piano melody and some rolling, afrobeat drums playing softly in the background, you immediately get that big city feel, that feeling of glorious night-time splendour. The melody itself is in minor key and, rather than downbeat, feels simply quite melancholy. Imagine “La Ritournelle” by Sebastien Tellier. This continues in a beautiful crescendo that builds tension and emotion up for a minute or so, until the violins are introduced into the song. By this point, the drums are becoming a little more ambitious and playing some fills at points rather than remaining with the same steady beat. It is still quite gentle and is by no means loud, but it raises the atmosphere even more, although this may also be due to the fact that the violins are becoming more plentiful in number and are playing slightly more dramatic and powerful melodies. This goes on until the about the 3 minute mark, where it all cuts down back into the piano and the drums again, except the piano is slightly more subdued and quiet by this point, although that tension is still there. The song then bubbles down so it’s just a few music boxes playing both the piano and violin melodies with no drum backing, and a faint choir audible in the background. A small drum fill then brings it back to life, with all of the instruments being reintroduced relatively loudly and more tension being built. Eventually, a strong bassline, faint acoustic guitar and jazzy, soulful vocals from Maddie come flying into the song, making it retain its beauty, whilst also packing more into it. They are sung relatively slowly, so that the words can be clearly made out and so that they actually keep their full meaning. In a display of magnificence, the violins then come back into the forefront of the song, with a drum roll being distantly heard. This drum roll then goes into a triangle, and leads back to another verse of the song being sung gently by Maddie, except you can now hear hushed whispers following her lyrics, almost in canon, in the background. Another verse then continues as normal, except with all of the instruments acting slightly gentler than usual. Once it goes into the final verse, nothing is remaining aside from the music boxes and violins. Even the piano and drums, which were practically constant throughout, are making way for this. In one last moment of beauty, Maddie sings the verse softly over these instruments and the last sounds of a music box end the song in quite a subtle, yet fitting style.

Rien ne changera jamais cet amour pour vous.
I want to spend... more time with you.
Before we realise, this dream will be over and you’ll be gone.
To the back of my mind... I’ll still be true.

Parfois, j'aime juste vous entendre parler mon nom..
I want to spend this day with you...
Every waking hour is just another mound of sand...
But it will end... and we will too.

Nous avons utilisé pour rire les passants,
Je voulais juste de cacher ma chanson...
The things we swore would be lies have now come true...
I want to spend my life with you.

Rien ne changera jamais cet amour pour vous.
I want to spend... more time with you.
Before we realise, this dream will be over and you’ll be gone.
To the back of my mind... I’ll still be true.

Katie: Nooooonnnnn régrette rieeeennn, noooonnnn jé non regreeettteee rieeeenn.
I don't know why I decided to sing some Edith Piaf to you, but I always feel like saying some French to you. Once again I love your music. Whenever I hear a song from you it makes me remember the summer and I smile. I just love these two again.