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Sample Track 1:
"Etoile pâle" from Motifs
Sample Track 2:
"High, Low, In" from Motifs
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Motifs
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Song descriptions and excerpted lyric translations

Paris Combo—Motifs (KOCH Records)
 
1. High, Low, In  - About feeling disconnected from a world that is both impersonally technological and violent.
 
“I'm heads, I'm tails,
Tender beneath my carapace
I turn my back on turbulence
And retreat when faced with violence....

 
(Chorus)
Poor me! Made of  flesh and bones and song
I'm not “high”, I'm not “low”
I'm not “in”

 
2. Calendar - This is an ironic description of everyday life as it unravels, day after day, and the way we put on a different face each day, hoping that things will get better.
 
(Chorus)
“For each day, its own face
But the same old landscape
Keeps going by-
It’s an absolute routine
 
Once she's made up her Tuesday-face
The usherette replays in her mind the images
That were projected onto her white blouse
Hoping tomorrow will bring something new, something novel.”

 
3. Aquarium -  Life lived through TV.
 
“I'm going round and round in my box
Like a fish in a furnished appartment...."

 
4. Ennemis Siamois - The mysteries of living as a couple.
 
“Two in one, my man...
My love
All my troubles
Siamese enemies, all in all”

 
5. Etoile pale -  A song about losing someone very dear.
 
“Your star, pale
Already,
Keeps getting paler
During the day
Until there is nothing left
 
My eyes are vacant,
So my mind connects with other things 
And during the night
Without me noticing
You reappear
On my horizon
And I'm astonished”

 
6. Tourist d'une vie - This track opens with sounds that Oz Fritz recorded on his travels in Egypt and Pakistan. It’s a about someone who travels the world - but only in his own mind.
 
 “He often sets out
And then gets lost
In his life,
It’s neither Zanzibar
Nor a longing for Patagonia”

 
7. Baguee - This was written for a dance company we were working with. The lyrics, originally about the Millennium Bug, now talks about being trapped in marriage.
 
“Ringed, ringed, ringed...
For ever...
My finger
And my arm
Oh la la...
No never! …”

 
 
8. Motus - About the importance of opening one's mouth, whether it be in politics or just to talk to one's lover.
 
“Silence is the same thing        
In every language -
Words are like seeds that aren't sown,
Wherever silence reigns”
 
9. Reflet - Instrumental composed by Potzi and featuring the extraordinary Romanian violinist Florin Niculescu.
 
10. Prete a porter - Being poor in a consumer society.
 
“Despite these murmurs I hear
Behind my back, I'd love
To feel the bite
Of raw wool on my bare neck.
So I've been dreaming aloud
Since the cold began
Hoping I will soon become
Angora"

 
11. Baron de chaise - This song expresses disgust about the corrupt and greedy nature of some powerful people.
 
“Give me some fine wines
And I'll fill my cellar
With the riches I've earned
On the backs of poor suckers

 
(Chorus)
The rewards of labor
Are no longer a worthy goal
The important thing is doing deals
And ripping off whoever I can”

 
12. Discordance - Music and lyrics by Mano.
 
“I don't want
this aria of yours
I don't hear
our two voices with this melody
the Orishas
have turned you
into a Diva
who practices her scales on me
I don't want
this aria of yours
- you're leading me
out of my depth”

 
 13. Aleas - How much can we expect from life while remaining passive?
 
“Imagine if chance
Sat down at my dinner party
And decided, late in the evening,
To turn me into a fork,
A plate-picking thief
Would I still get my song?
If these prongs,
Simply for eating purposes
Gave off no particular note
As a simple fork
Would I still get my song?”

 
14. Je ne sais qui fumer - Someone who has overdosed on (night) life.
 
“...I had plenty of fun
Made the best of everything
Dancing into each embrace
So easily swept away
At the slightest whim, I know...

 
(Chorus)
But I don't know, don't know
Where I want to go
I'm like a sheep in its field
Or like a cigarette butt under a steel heal
I don't know, I don't know who to smoke...”



Additional Info
The Undefineable Paris Combo: Motifs of Ambivalence & Signs ...
Song descriptions and excerpted lyric translations

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