Favorite Records: AFI – Sing the Sorrow – From The Mind of McFarland music blog.
It may seem odd for someone whose primary instrument is an acoustic guitar, but I love big sounds. Massive percussion, huge group vocals, epic musical overtures, I’m a sucker for all of them. And when it comes to big sounds, AFI’s Sing the Sorrow album has them in spades, and that combined with amazing energy (which anyone whose spent time in a studio knows is difficult to capture in a recording) and some fantastic songwriting makes Sing the Sorrow easily one of my favorite records.
The goth-rockers had been around for a while before Sing the Sorrow (a good friend of mine had a mild obsession with their song “Morningstar” off of The Art of Drowning) at one point, but that was about all I knew of them. Then I recall hearing a DJ on a now-defunct Ohio alternative radio station mention that AFI had won some award for the song Girl’s Not Grey. I can’t for the life of me recall what the award was, and I’ve had absolutely no luck tracking that information down, but regardless, it gave me the push to check out their music a bit more. I picked up the CD at a now-defunct Ohio record store, and halfway through track one I was sold. “Miseria Cantare – The Beginning” is a huge, epic, shout-along track that sets the tone for the whole album.
One interesting point to note is that throughout Sing the Sorrow, even though I consider it to be one of my favorite records, I probably couldn’t tell you what the lyrics are to any song. I could give you a phonetic approximation, but Davey Havok’s occasionally mushmouthed delivery has led to a million misheard lyrics. In the parts where I’m left completely clueless, my mind usually concocts incredibly childish alternative words. I swear there are lyrics about “bags of pee and poo”, as well as one song were Davey repeatedly shouts, “I’m an asshole! I’m an asshole!”
Even though I make my music primarily with an acoustic guitar, I still try to work some of those “big” sounds I mentioned loving into my music. You can hear that in the percussion sounds of the opening track “Sit & Wait” off my latest record, and the layered vocals in the closing track “Lighthouse”.
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Unleaded rhythmic alt-pop fuels singer/songwriter and two-wheel troubadour Michael McFarland’s engine. Michael McFarland in the simplest summary? Writer, Rocker, Biker, Geek.
For Michael’s Music, Cd’s, Downloads, Merchandise, live show schedule, music blogs, music videos, and everything else you want to know about McFarland, visit the Michael McFarland Website at http://michaelmcfmusic.com/
