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Checkout

from VelA by Francesca Baines

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about

Checkout describes our journey in modern life being distracted by the endless bombardment of advertising. Writing this song I imagined myself walking through the fluorescent sheen of shopping malls, supermarkets, airports and laboratories,where the sprawl of screens continuously sell a lifestyle so divorced from our natural world. To create rhythm I used the waste generated by our consumerism; coke cans, plastic bottles and bags, the reality stripping newspapers and magazines, the pen clicks of the office workers, the sliding hangers of fervent shoppers and of course, the clinking of coins (recorded after closing time by throwing my tips over the floor of the cafe where I worked). I find it so ironic that mass materialism is so much based around our mistaken view of immortality, and so the chorus "Will we find all is light?". It was a pleasure working with pianist Erik Gullikson on this record, who so readily interpreted the concepts and inner workings of the song with such wit and satirical reference. This song came from a jam with cellist Lea Miklody but it is the first song that I can say I composed most predominantly on the laptop.

lyrics

On that track
Off the rail
Is this the place to be?
From the rack
Closing sale
Seems like hell to me

"Welcome to our paradi$e
A competitive price for the piece"
"You better shift behind the trespasser sign
Before you get a little bit illegitimate"
"Your hologram Ma'am!
Get your barcode a-ready
For scanning you through the screen"
"Its for your protection
Vaccinate in case infection
Chlorinate your feet"

"Animal vegetable mineral
For your convenience we'll prepack it
Ready to eat
"Stabalised, fortified"
"Its the freshest you'll get in polythene
Disclaimer print:
Don't get plastic stuck in your teeth"
"Bon Appetit"

Will we find all is light?

"We guarantee no wrinkles
With just one little sprinkle
of Detox Botoxin Beat the Clock"
"Unique Formula"
"From our labatory rat race
Of polyester pacing fluorescent faces
"Hurry here before we're out of stock"
"'Cause you'll be chemical cool
A poised pandemic in our gene pool
X factor contracted"
"Pop Idol
Textvote a fanatical faketan revival"
"You'll be on the TV
Racy as retolin, ADD
An ad pollutant for our new perfume:
Summer in the City"

"You can sign your name right here
By the best before date"

Will we find all is light?

When my end comes
My knees buckle on the street
Paint my cheeks and
Cover my bones up in concrete
'Cause later I'll be an archeological find
From the disposal period
That wasted time

By elevator, escalator
When you get to the final stop
And they say to you
"where did you go?"
Well I missed my connection
On high speed confection
Distracted by travelling in style
I was dazzled by the act
Where I was at, to be exact,
I don't know

Looking at mannequins
The world their living in
Staring out through glass
At the world that I am living in
Looking at mannequins
Staring at the ceiling
Looking at the glass
That I am appearing in

Will we find?

All is light

credits

from VelA, released October 21, 2012
Francesca Baines: voice, dulcimers, tubular metallophone, lampshade, marimba,
street rhythms
Erik Gullikson: piano
Jeremy Baines: flutes
Lea Miklody: cello

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about

Francesca Baines Cork, Ireland

"A spirited and spiritual intervention in the world-music it celebrates.”

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