just like you're Charles I...

I've written about Statuesque before, but that was before I had mp3 hosting space, and so here I go again. I think one thing that might prevent the band from reaching a larger audience (aside from the "band" being primarily Stephen Manning, and the usual issues with so-called pop not being at all popular these days) is the complexity, and thereby length, of Manning's songs. They don't sound complex - it's not a complexity of difficult parts, or tricky rhythms, or intricate arrangements - but Manning tends toward rather complex song structures, with each verse and chorus often having both an "A" and a "B" section. If there's only one Statuesque song you've heard, it's probably "Ton of Feathers, Ton of Steel" from the band's first EP Angleterre (released in 1996), which actually showed up on a CMJ compilation and got some college-radio airplay. I post it here because, well, it's only one of the best songs of the past ten years. But notice how rambling a song it is: after a 4-bar intro, we go into a 16-bar verse, followed by an 8-bar "B" section of verse, followed by what turns out to be the "A" section of a chorus (8 bars), and finally what's clearly the chorus itself (another 8 bars). Counting the 4-bar interlude before the second verse begins, that's 44 bars after the intro - already, we're nearly at the song's two-minute mark. There's another section like the first one, a 16-bar instrumental section (on different chords from every other section, although they're related), and then a truncated verse/chorus section, then out. The song's not that long, at 4:37 - but I think the average listener probably gets lost trying to figure out where the song's going and where it's been.

"Dash" is a bit simpler, structurally - although not by much. (I'll spare you the analysis - you can do it yourself if you're so inclined.) This is the leadoff from Statuesque's 2001 album Live from Lake Vostok (no, it isn't), which was released initially in the form of a seltzer tablet guaranteed to fully dissolve within forty-five seconds. I think it had a slightly wider release on CD - but not much.

I will recommend Statuesque's latest and most readily obtainable release, Choir Above Fire Below, on 125 Records (Hi Sue and Joe! There I go, doing pro bono promo for my friends again...). You can listen to mp3s from that release at the 125 website. I would also recommend Statuesque's hilarious website at the not-obvious www.statuesque.org.uk - but I'm not linking to it directly because it's been down for the last two days, and I don't know if it plans to exist any longer.

Statuesque "Ton of Feathers, Ton of Steel"
Statuesque "Dash"