1950's Communist China, The Great Leap Forward is initiated
by Mao Zedong, in which sparrows were killed off in obscene
numbers in an attempt to preserve the farmland crops. However,
sparrows thrive on eating locust, and with the main predator
now gone, the locust began to swarm China, destroying all
their cops which resulted in a massive famine which led
to almost 30 million deaths.
Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Sun is the soundtrack
to this campaign. In the shadow of Pink Floyd's "Meddle" and "Obscured
by clouds", Red Sparrows paint the 8 song, instrumental
sounds-cape of famine and pestilence, in a mountainous
epic of spiritual proportions, that has some of the most
well thought out layers of sound in recent rock history.
I had the pleasure of seeing Red Sparrows on one of their
first tours a few years back, and was floored at the tightly
layered sound and awe inspiring visuals, that I was a little
disappointed that their first release "At the Soundless
Dawn" did not capture what I had see before my eyes.
However, the Sparrows sophomore release was able to seize
the energy of a live show, into one of the best releases
of 2006. I can not stress how brilliant this record is,
and how amazing of a live band Red Sparrows are.
|