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    Artwork by Choy-Ping Clarke-Ng.

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1.
Tomorrows (In Time of War) 04:00
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Tomorrows Wipe away all sorrows Let’s fall in love, my love With the dove. Wherever i will be, my love You’ll be with me Wherever you will be, I’ll be… Tomorrows, who knows where the wind blows…
2.
Billy Bonnie Kid 02:47
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What’s the use of looking On the gloomy side of everything? The laugh’s on me this time. Billy Bonnie kid, are you still alive? Orphan at 15, arrested at 16 I fled New Mexico to Arizona I was a gambler and a thief Sentenced to be hanged Escaped from jail, I killed 2 men, Singing… What’s the use of looking On the gloomy side of everything? The laugh’s on me this time. Billy Bonnie kid, are you still alive? On the run I lost my horse I walked the desert, starved to death Whistling a tune of joy, “You’re gonna hang till you’re dead, dead, dead. Said the sheriff when i got caught I answered “Go to hell, hell, hell!” Singing… What’s the use of looking On the gloomy side of everything? The laugh’s on me this time. Billy Bonnie kid, are you still alive? I shot the sheriff, a bullet in his head. They hunted me and shot me A bullet in my young heart Billy, I’m a kid, shot at 21, And now I’m riding free… Singing… What’s the use of lookingOn the gloomy side of everything? The laugh’s on me this time. Billy Bonnie kid, are you still alive? Billy Bonnie kid, my rage is still alive!
3.
Camino 03:10
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Iba yo por un camino Cuando con la muerte di Amigo! Grito la muerte Pero no le respondí Pero no le respondí Mire no mas a la muerte Pero no le respondí Llevaba yo un lirio blanco Cuando con la muerte di Me pidió el lirio la muerte Pero no le respondí Pero no le respondí Mire no mas a la muerte Pero no le respondí Ay Muerte, si otra vez volviera a verte Iba a platicar contigo, como un amigo Mi lirio sobre tu pecho, como un amigo Mi beso sobre tu mano, como un amigo Yo, detenido y sonriente, como un amigo
4.
Gorgon 2020 02:59
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Formido Timor et Trepidatio, That’s how the new world goes! Dry your tears my dear You know the end is near Miss Gorgon is in the streets And on every TV screen Remember, one glimpse of her eyes And it’s time to say Bye Bye! Formido Timor et Trepidatio, That’s how the new world goes! Dry your tears my dear You know the end is near I wish I was a hero But I hide under my pillow The numbers on the radio Gorgon hisses Hello! Hello! Formido Timor et Trepidatio, That’s how the new world goes! Dry your tears my dear You know the end is near I’m ready for the last dance Hearing the media's sacred chants Ready for ma transhumance Oh Gorgon, ma dernière romance!
5.
Stumble and Dance 04:19
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I stumble and dance, My believes in my hands I stumble and dance, Spinning again the wheel of chance. Thinking of tomorrows Past is a hole where madness grows. Riding my shiny horse Hell for leather, Here we go! I don’t count my broken bones No need to lick my bloody wounds Out of breath, heart pounding, I’m standing and falling, falling and standing, Here we go! Hell for leather, here we go!

about

In 1936 Antonin Artaud took peyote with the Tarahumara in Mexico. ‘Hell for Leather’ could be the soundtrack to a lost imagining of Artaud’s fevered return across the border on horseback into the past - “a hole where madness grows”. Servant’s tales take us into the demented cantinas and desert circuses of an existential (Eastern-inflected) Western where he and his Long Distance Callers are the travelling house band, a chorus of lost souls kicking against the pricks “from Mexico to Arizona”. Sonically celebratory, it poses the question “What’s the use of looking on the gloomy side of everything?” when fate has already been ordained. Amp hum rises like desert heat, guitars growl like a coyote, organs wheeze like lungs and drum machines measure time like anvils in the night. Artaud, Servant, or some other cowboy, “still alive”, stumbles on into the sunset, dancing against destiny as the credits roll…“Dry your tears my dear, you know the end is near”.

Dylan Tighe



Alain Servant: Voice, Electric Cetera, Drum machine.
John Linnane: Electric Guitar, bass, Organ, Voice.
Oli Ryan: Keyboards, Organ, Bass, Percussion, Voice.
Recorded and mixed by Christopher Barry, Ailfionn Recordings, Dublin, Ireland.
Mastered by Seàn Mc Erlaine.
Artwork: Choy-Ping Clarke-Ng

All songs by Alain Servant except “Camino” lyrics by Nicolas Guillen.

Version francaise du texte de Dylan Tighe.
En 1936, Antonin Artaud prend du peyotl avec les indiens Tarahumaras du Mexique.
“Hell for Leather” pourrait être la bande-son de ce passé perdu, « Un trou où la folie croît », imaginant le retour fiévreux d’Artaud à dos de cheval, à travers la frontière.
Les récits de Servant nous emmènent dans les cantinas démentes et les cirques désertiques d’un western existentiel (aux inflexions orientales) où lui et ses Long Distance Callers forment un orchestre itinérant, chœur d ‘âmes perdues, tenant tête au destin à coup de bottes poussiéreuses « du Mexique à l’Arizona ».
Le son festif nous interroge : « A quoi bon regarder le coté morose de toutes choses ? » quand le destin est déjà scellé.
Le bourdonnement des amplis s’élève telle la chaleur du désert, les guitares grognent comme des coyotes, les orgues sifflent comme des poumons et les boites à rythmes marquent le temps tels des enclumes dans la nuit.
Artaud, Servant, ou d’autres cowboys, toujours vivants, trébuchent dans le coucher du soleil, dansant contre la fatalité alors que le générique défile… « Sèche tes larmes, mon amour, tu sais, la fin est proche… »

Dylan Tighe.

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released July 23, 2023

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Alain Servant Dublin, Ireland

The music of Alain Servant is a synthesis of his years of artistic vagrancy. His practice is based in narrative: his craft is the construction of worlds where everything is distorted yet illuminated. Listening his albums is like rolling through the shifting narrative structure of a dream revealing a unique wisdom that weaves piss and vinegar parables, speaking reassurances in hoarse tones. ... more

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