Cousteau : Sirena 2002 Flac & MP3

Cousteau is a hopelessly romantic, refined act whose musical aesthetic comes from the territories where the most sensually enticing, emotionally wrenching elements of Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, Scott Walker, Nick Cave, Jackie Leven, and even Tom Waits come together to reminisce, drink cognac, and weep.
On the band's debut, sheer pop invention and brash, over-the-top, emotive delivery carried the swagger to the masses, selling 150,000 copies aided by relentless touring.

Sirena stands the chance of moving past that mark on the strength of its pure musical craft and emotional commitment to the material, as well as relentless touring.
Sirena is a strange record, albeit a completely accessible one. As full of oceanic imagery as its title, songwriter, keyboardist, and producer Davey Ray Moor crafts hedonistically elegant pop songs that echo the lushness of Walker's early Phillips material with a more direct lyrical delivery, courtesy of frontman Liam McKahey's original and steamily passionate singing.

Songs like "Salome" feature a muted horn section that swirls around lilting strings in a breezy jazz and bossa nova cadence. McKahey sings without irony or affectation.

SALOME LYRICS

So this is not the place
And these are not the times
I hear my bell a-tollin'
Now the stars begin to shine
Salome, Salome I...
Salome the love we made
Between us
Has become the hunted kind

And I recall I surrendered
I saw you dancing barefoot
In the garbage and the leaves
And we were small, worn and tender
Salome the games we played
Woke the dogs
Who prey on me
Prey on me

'Cause Salome, Salome maybe
Salome maybe between you and me
We'd have made some history
Salome, Salome I...
Salome if it's all the same
Whatever did become of me, of me...

And I'll be there, I'll wait for you
I'm hearing in the distance
There's a bird that calls my name
'Cause Salome, I adored you
Salome the very flame
That licked us
Has become fair game
Fair game...

The horns swell, a harmonica enters winding around them in the dusty, dimly lit back corner of the mix, and the lyric wraps it's lithe arms around the listener's neck seductively, slipping down the back and into her or his pockets, only to vanish into the night with its contents -- the human heart.
Such romantic melancholy is not only a method for getting a lyric and musical arrangement across, it is a way of communicating directly in images and metaphors that are not the everyday tropes of Anglo-Brit love song fodder.

If Moor were a little less jaded, he might be Neil Finn; if he were a bit more ruined, he might be Nick Cave. As it stands, he's himself, using jazz, precisely elegant and luxurious pop, and the right amount of rock & roll swagger to craft his gloriously broken narratives of love, lust, spilt whiskey, and loss.

On "Please Don't Cry" McKahey croons in a near falsetto like a soul singer his intention to leave his beloved, feeling every bit of the pain the separation will exact.
Moor's keyboards engage Robin Brown's guitars, dropping the heartbreak like a dirty rain on the ears of the listener.

On the Steely Dan-tinged electric piano and snare drum riff in "Heavy Weather" McKahey begins in a falsetto and Rolling Stone (8/8/02, p.82) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...They're in top shape on this album....Cousteau are silky without being slick....they are in a class by themselves..."

Mojo (Publisher) (9/02, p.97) - - "[a] sumptuous and velveteen-cloaked venture...Subtle string and brass arrangements add to the brooding, stylish swing, evidence that some things never go out of fashion."

TRACKS

1 Nothing So Bad 4:17
2 (Damn These) Hungry Times 4:20
3 Talking To Myself 3:46
4 Peculiarly You 5:42
5 Salome 4:37
6 Please Don't Cry 4:45
7 No Medication 3:42
8 After The Fall 4:42
9 Last Secret Of The Sea 2:41
10 Heavy Weather 4:31
11 She Bruise Easy 4:33
12 Have You Seen Her 5:31


Arranged By – Cousteau

MEMBERS

Liam McKahey : Vocals, Percussion, Design [Sculptures & Logo]
Joe Peet : Bass, Violin, Piano, Vocals
Craig Vear : Drums, Percussion
Robin Brown : Guitar, Vocals
Chris Blair : Mastered By
Davey Ray Moor : Piano, Vocals, Flugelhorn, Organ, Harmonica, Accordion, ,Strings, Producer

Take it HERE

For our friend from Plastic Palace People : Leakingwater

The Download Link contains all the lyrics of this album


Flac

You can find the first Cousteau album (Flac & MP3) HERE