seen from Malaysia
seen from Spain
seen from Russia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Poland
seen from China
seen from Sweden
seen from Japan
seen from China
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from Sweden
seen from Türkiye
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from France
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from Malaysia
The Triffids - A Trick of the Light (1987)
I was really disappointed in the Triffids 4th LP Calenture; it was so overproduced. Only recently I learned that they'd released a remastered version with demos. The demos are fantastic! Similar to their LP In the Pines. When not smothered in 80s production, the brilliance of David McComb's songwriting shines through.
Well the rim of her mouth was golden Her eyes were just desert sands
Calenture - a fevered brain
A recent spell of warm weather made me think of the word “calenture.” It’s the Word of the Day. Calenture is an illness or condition brought on by equatorial heat and is often associated with sailors in the tropics. It’s a sort of temporary insanity caused by heatstroke. The word calenture comes from the Spanish “calentura,” meaning “fever,” and from the Latin “calere,” to be warm.
Sailing ships would enter the Doldrums, an area in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean near the equator where the winds are dead calm. With no wind to fill the sails and get the ship moving, it could be stuck there for weeks at a time. Today, being “in the doldrums” refers to any state of inactivity, listlessness or stagnation.
As the story goes, the sun would beat down, sailors would go crazy from the awful, unrelenting heat and, in their delirium, they would imagine the sea was just a great big grassy meadow – and they would jump overboard to start walking home. That was “calenture.” It didn’t turn out well for them.
I think “calenture” is probably a metaphor for something that’s going on in our country and in our lives right now, but I’m too deep in the doldrums to figure out what it’s a meta-for. Feel free to add your own theory in the comments.
The Triffids - Save What You Can (1987)
Born Sandy Devotional by the Triffids is one of my all-time favorite LPs, but the next big studio LP Calenture was a bit disappointing at the time. Listening now, I may have judged too harshly. This is the majestic closing track.
Time is against us, even love conspires to disgrace us
pivoting from being vaguely anti-psych to being dementedly pro-psych. the most important part of mental health is when theres a word to describe the way ur brain affects ur functioning in society . atm im thinking i have self-defeating personality disorder.. hysterical fits.. neurasthenia.. calenture... acedia.. glass delusion.. morgellons. . maybe dancing mania?
Treeless Plain (1983) Born Sandy Devotional (1986) In the Pines (1986) Calenture (1987) The Black Swan (1989) The Triffids
The Triffids were the kind of band for whom, in retrospect, obscene cult appreciation seemed inevitable, even deliberate. David McComb’s monstrously passionate, unapologetically sincere, often very weird lyrics atop, the band’s songs blended country, folk, jangle and strings into a hyper-melodic, immensely scaled and fabulously well-crafted brand of post-punk. All that was likely further made distinct by geography: as many have noted before me, The Triffids’ hometown of Perth isn’t just isolated because it’s in Australia, it’s isolated even within Oz. For me, Perth doesn’t leave so much desolation, solitude or aridity in these tunes; it instead contributes to their outlook. Without feeling need to obey other post-punk trends in ‘coolness’ or ‘restraint’, the band could instead be as earnest and strange, as belting and untethered as they damn pleased.
Pick(s): ‘Place in the Sun’, ‘Lonely Stretch’, ‘Suntrapper’, ‘Blinder By the Hour’, ‘Falling Over You’
The Triffids - Trick of the Light
From the album Calenture
The Triffids - Calenture
The Triffids - Bury me deep in Love
From the album Calenture
