Sunday 19 May 2013

Halloween part I (Pulsar, 1977)

If you like dark and mysterious tracks, with a sad atmosphere and lots of 12 string guitars and keys, this is your track! I adore the slow, foggy, lunar sound of this suite from the French band Pulsar, leading me through a ghostly land, where childhood and evil walk side by side. This first part of "Halloween" includes four movements: "Halloween Song", "Tired Answers", "Colours of Childhood" and "Sorrow in My Dreams", being the first two instrumental tracks and the first one an adaptation of the Irish traditional "Londonderry Air". The child's spoken intro is also fascinating. The background sound is provided by Jacques Roman's keyboards (mostly synths and mellotron), but other acoustic instruments enrich the suite and draw its special, somber flavour: vibes, timbal, flute, piano, cello, violin, clarinet and so on.

Doesn't this cover say it all?

The lyrics (in English) add some more nostalgy and fear, suggesting bloody secrets hidden under the purity of childhood. So, you have idyllic scenes lake this one:

Gentle dreams in fading blue
Summer dusk in golden green
Feeling turned to season hues.

And such disturbing pictures:
 
Rumbling waters underneath
Gleamed with many dizzy whirls my head spins
Bulging eyes staring at me
Chilled my spine, their spell holds me tight.
 
 
This composition requires a taste for classical inspired prog, but believe me when I say that it touches me each time I listen to it. 

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