I seen stranger things happen/Happen before’, … sure, me too, but still, this is a strange one.
Bright Eyes’ upcoming album keeps revealing itself, after ‘Shell Games’ you can now download another track from ‘The People’s Key’, a song entitled ‘Haile Selassie’… but why did they release the best song first? Shell Games was much more interesting musically speaking!
With its hard, dry start that first does not sound like Bright Eyes at all but rapidly moves into ‘Digital Ash’ territory, its vibrating guitar riffs and its layered whimsy electronics, the song is just a little lyrically odd, …when did Conor become interested in Rastafarian religion? Am I the only one to find the connection just plain bizarre?
Sure he is totally allowed to, but aren’t lyrics like ‘you’ve got a soul — use it’ or ‘We are the chosen people/Safe from the next evil/One love!’ scream look-at-me-I-have-became-so-spiritual?
References about the Ethiopian emperor are all over the song, ‘Hitchhiking back to Zion’, ‘Sings like the Queen of Sheba’, as well as Rastafarian philosophy ‘We are the same brother’, ‘Keep all their minds collected/Until he comes’, ‘We are the chosen people’… But I don’t really buy his new conversion, I know that the new album is all about spirituality and religion, but the Rastafari movement sounds such a random idea or a cry for attention.
Haile Selassie is worshipped as the incarnation of Jesus or God by Rastafarians, but does it mean the fans will receive this new Bright Eyes’ album like the messiah