Black Heart Procession
Aladdin Theater
Nov. 15
9 p.m.
$10 in advance, $12 at the door
All ages
As Mogwai sang on their album Come On Die Young, “sad songs remind me of friends.” And nothing brings back memories of those carefree, happy times like a Black Heart Procession dirge.
If this can be done without sounding like a horribly inept condolence card, I would like to say something about joy and sadness and how they are invariably linked.
Well, no, it can’t be done. I just tried, failed and erased it.
So we are back here. Maybe I will try again: I am thinking about those times when your own insecurity about yourself as well as the instability of your relationships with others clashed with the seemingly endless possibilities of the world and your own ridiculously inflated ego.
Well, the Black Heart Procession brings it all back. It could be that, on their extraordinary album 2, the general theme of ships and sails and lovers on shore isn’t necessarily close to home, even if the emotions are, and the distance that this encourages gives it a nostalgic air. It could be these lovers on shore remind one of missed opportunities and no one misses an opportunity when they are unhappy. Unhappy people will grasp at anything, that’s why people have such sad nostalgia about their happy times, they think they could have made some decision back then, one of the many open to them, that would have led them to a better place than they are.
These songs of going out to sea while the one that could have made you happy stays on shore could strike an emotional chord in many listeners. Moved by their happiness, young people believe the world is theirs for the taking and leave what they know to go claim the unknown. Only once they are out to sea, in an environment that is apathetic to their existence, do they realize what they have lost. The world is too big for them, too unknown, and it saps them of their egotism, which was the source of their power.
So now the ship has finally come in, but all is not well on shore. Amore del Tropico, the Black Heart Procession’s fourth and latest release, is a tropical murder mystery. With a title that is not a number and a theme that narrates a story while the others painted landscapes, this is a step in a new direction for the band. While previous Procession records have been eclectically, though minimally, composed, Amore boasts even more diverse instrumentation than its predecessors, adding lush and often eerie string arrangements to their songs. The sexy flair and theatrical treatment of this album gives the songs a lighter feel, yet indicates a darker world beneath the veneer, where a crime of passion has left a lost soul searching for answers.