“I tried to tell them to make good pasta,” protests James Michael Rodgers. “But we had limited cooking equipment on set.” Because if you look on the video, the pasta in the pot has no sauce.
indieBerlin presents a citywide exclusive: Shores of my Youth music video by James Michael Rodgers. Waves of prog nostalgia cut through with the grit of a British festival field, delivered with glam-operatic vocals and eerie visuals to match.
Strip that all away, and you find the beatnik plucking at a family guitar, tomorrow at Lagari.
If unseasoned pasta isn’t disconcerting enough, the jellyfish might get to you, and the way they’re suggestively cross-faded with shots of people. Or the close-ups of locusts. Or the way the camera sometimes takes a few drunken seconds to find the framing you’re expecting.
Or it might be the way James Michael Rodgers delivers the words ‘feasting on your soul’. He sounds like he’s singing a lullaby, or sighing with relief. The song’s been building tension, telling of tormented relations using unexpected intervals and chord changes in the Bowie or Buckley school. Then, ‘feasting on your soul, soul’, back in the tonal, soothing, simple. Superb.
Cool cats in concert
But music isn’t made to be talked about. If you haven’t started watching for yourself yet, I’m not sure what you’re still doing here unless a) you’ll watch it later when you have better signal or b) you’re planning to come to the gig tomorrow.
Featuring a whole litter of cool cats, weaving in and out of spoken word and songwriting (poetry in other forms), it’ll be a supremely relaxed affair – and free of charge. It’s in Lagari, a well-loved bar in Neukölln that’s opened up to the waves of young creatives without losing its German-ness.
Buy James Michael Rodgers’ vinyl Shame to be Alive on bandcamp now. You can find more details about tomorrow’s free concert on the facebook event here.
