The Bachelor (album)
| The Bachelor | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Patrick Wolf | ||||
|
Publication |
June 1, 2009 |
|||
| Label (s) | Bloody Chamber Music | |||
|
Format (s) |
||||
|
Title (number) |
14th |
|||
|
running time |
52:49 |
|||
|
||||
The Bachelor (German: The Bachelor ) is the fourth studio album by the British musician Patrick Wolf . After the break with his record company Loog in 2007, Patrick Wolf decided to finance his next album, which was to be titled Battle , through his fans, who pre-invested in the production of the album on the Internet platform Bandstocks in exchange for exclusive advance information and pre-emptive rights to collector's editions . Finally, Battle , which was planned as a double album, was split into two parts: The Bachelor was released on June 1, 2009, the follow-up part The Conquerorshould follow in 2010. However, it did not appear until mid-2011 under the title Lupercalia , which refers to the Roman festival of the Lupercalia .
Content conception
Both The Bachelor and The Conqueror are intended to reflect the artist's biographical themes, but to be in sharp contrast to one another. This is based on the fact that Patrick Wolf, according to his own statement, had started work on Battle in a phase when he was plagued by lovesickness. The theme of loneliness is particularly clearly expressed in the title song ( "I will never marry, marry at all - no one will wear my silver ring" ). The follow-up album The Conqueror, on the other hand, is said to consist mainly of songs that were created in a later phase when Patrick Wolf was happily in love.
The narrative ego, which in many songs clearly bears biographical traces, often describes itself as a 'boy' or 'son' (in Vulture , for example ) and finds itself on numerous adventurous aberrations through the work; they lead by thickets ( Thickets ) and through the labyrinth of the Minotaur in the song Theseus . Out of these wrong ways, the young adventurer, who is hero and rogue at the same time, leads several red threads to his "cursed and blessed" path ( "the cursed and blessed open road" , as it is called in the final piece, The Messenger ). One of them is settling accounts with one's own father, for example in the songs Oblivion ( "father - where's my gun?" ) And - with a particularly personal touch - in Blackdown , which addresses Patrick Wolf's family history.
Patrick Wolf also deals with his homosexuality more explicitly and offensively than he did on previous albums, especially in Battle ( "I am so sick of being told my identity is in minority" ).
Track list
- War Game - 0:47
- Hard Times - 3:33
- Oblivion - 3:24
- The Bachelor - 3:13
- Damaris - 5:28
- Thickets - 4:08
- Count of Casualty - 5:03
- Who will? - 3:31
- Vulture - 3:22
- Blackdown - 5:21
- The Sun Is Often Out - 3:33
- Theseus - 4:40
- Battle - 3:07
- The Messenger - 3:39
Guest appearances
The actress Tilda Swinton appears in several songs ( Oblivion , Thickets , Theseus ) as speaking voice, which interacts partly monologically, partly dialogically with the singer (Patrick Wolf).
The Spinster
At the same time as the album, the EP The Spinster (German: Die alten Jungfer ) was released as a supplement in a limited edition . In addition to two remixes of The Bachelor and Who Will? and two other versions of older titles including the piece Vaeety Braeu , a newly arranged traditional from the Isle of Man in the Gaelic Manx .
Individual evidence
- ^ Rebekka Schwarz: Patrick Wolf: Lupercalia , June 17, 2011, accessed August 31, 2011