Frances the Mute
| Frances the Mute | ||||
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| Studio album by The Mars Volta | ||||
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Publication |
2005 |
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| Label (s) | Universal Records / Gold Standard Labs | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Progressive rock |
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Title (number) |
5 |
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running time |
approx. 77 minutes |
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| occupation |
Singing : Cedric Bixler-Zavala Guitar : Omar Alfredo Rodriguez-Lopez |
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Omar Alfredo Rodriguez-Lopez |
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Frances the Mute is the second studio album by the American rock band The Mars Volta . The version of the CD was released in March 2005 on Universal Records, the vinyl version followed in April of the same year on the band's own label Goldstandardlabs.
Track list
-
Cygnus .... Vismund Cygnus (13:08):
- Sarcophagi
- Umbilical Syllables
- Facilis Descenus Averni
- Con Safo
- The Widow (5:57)
- L 'Via L' Viaquez (12:27)
-
Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore (13:15):
- Vade Mecum
- Pour Another Icepick
- Pisacis (Phra-Men-Ma)
- Con Safo
-
Cassandra Gemini (31:42):
- Tarantism
- Plant A Nail In The Navel Stream
- Faminepulse
- Multiple spouse wounds
- Sarcophagi
The following track was also released as EP :
Frances the Mute :
- In Thirteen Seconds
- Nineteen Sank, While Six Would Swim
- Five Would Grow And One Was Dead
On the vinyl version, the tracks are distributed over the individual record sides as follows:
- A: 1 +2
- B: 3
- C: 4
- D: 5 parts a-b
- E: 5 parts c – e
background
The "plot" of this concept album is allegedly based on a diary that band member Jeremy Michael Ward, who died shortly before the release of the previous album De-Loused in the Comatorium , is said to have found in the back seat of a car. In this diary the author describes the search for his unknown parents. Ward was so fascinated by the parallels to his own life in this diary that he went on to write it. The individual songs on the album each deal with a person he is said to have met during his own research.
The concept of the album actually includes another piece, titled "Frances the Mute", the text of which is printed on the CD, but which was not published at the instigation of the record company, as it rejected a double album resulting from its total length not to let the expected low commercial success turn out to be even worse. This track was released in April 2005 as a single EP on the band's own label GSL, but only in the USA .
admission
The recording of the album was under the direction of the band leader Rodriguez-Lopez, who also produced it. Allegedly he was the only one who had an overview of the recordings, while the other band members only recorded individual parts without knowing where they should be used later in the song or even in which song. It is remarkable that all songs merge seamlessly into one another. Therefore a slightly different mix had to be made with the vinyl version, which is usually presented as endless grooves at the end of the record sides. In addition, the last song had to be split in the middle because it doesn't fit on one side of the record.
Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers bassist Flea appears as guest musician , who contributes trumpet parts on two pieces. John Frusciante recorded two guitar solos. Larry Harlow, Lenny Castro and Adrian Terrazas are also named.
The sound of the album is very complex. Screeching progressive rock -Parts alternate with lengthy psychedelic instrumental passages and surface sounds very much of the early Pink Floyd remember. The whole atmosphere of the album is downright negative and depressing, to which the depressive lyrics also contribute. This excerpt serves as an example:
The trophy shelves made room for his collapse
She was a mink handjob in sarcophagus heels
Bring me to my knees, read the sharpened lines
All my arms bled me blind
Faucet leaks in the shadows, spilling from morgue
Lancet caressed your fontanels I´ve
sworn to kill every last one
Panic in the shakes of the wounded, panic in the worms
Onto the floor and out of your mouth, out of your eyelids
No, there is no light in the darkest of your furthest reaches
There is no light!
Artwork
The artwork comes largely from Storm Thorgerson ( Hipgnosis ), who has for Pink Floyd's world-famous cover art was responsible and strikingly intricately designed and lovingly. Very surreal motifs are used throughout, with a continuous motif being people in suits, whose heads are covered with blood-red silk bags and who are sitting in highly polished vintage cars . On the last page of the vinyl version that is not played with music, a branched motif has been scratched into the vinyl.