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These fleeting moments

by Black Tape For A Blue Girl

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Matthew Adlard
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Matthew Adlard Newly discovered band for me so this was a blind purchase. Found it to be a stirring and deeply philosophical work. The soundscapes are great and the instrumental tracks add some variety. Favorite track: You're inside me.
rikm
rikm thumbnail
rikm On "These Fleeting Moments", Black Tape For A Blue Girl have crafted a beautiful and emotional collection of songs with an epic and cinematic feel, an expansive sound that conjures images of vast spaces and wide open vistas, yet remains intimate and personal, an emotional and resonant release that draws the listener deeper under it's spell with every play.

Highly recommended...
Scott
Scott thumbnail
Scott I love the variety of musical styles and lyrical content...every song is engaging. Sam, you and the band have really created something special here! I'm still having trouble picking a single favorite song. Easily my favorite album of the year, indeed the past several years. Favorite track: Please don't go.
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1.
part 1 should i change who i am, should i tell a different story? change my name, change my age; will that draw you back to me? there’s a ghost in my empty house: memories, the memories a myth of ourselves that we told ourselves: forever forever, never i told you the story of myself that i thought you wanted to hear, wanted to hear that way you never had the chance to reject me for who i really am reject me as i am who would i be if you loved me when you really knew me? after all these years can i face myself? don’t reject me for who i am, don’t reject me for who i am part 3 so tired of knowing every answer another day just like the one before nothing left to chance, no circumstance for the unknown, a fear of uncertainty fists up, frightened, fighting in vain now that my house has burned to the ground i can more easily see the moon the most beautiful moments remain mysterious spontaneous, dangerous, forever unclear to us show me your life, show me how you’ve loved tell me your secrets, tell me how you’ve lived now that my house has burned to the ground i can more easily see the moon part 5 drifting somewhere lost at sea baking under a radiant sun what we once argued about seems so trivial politics, religion, love, our problems all inconsequential drifting half a billion miles from the sun it’s cold and empty, everything I should have done the vastness of life, so little of it touched time, always time, rushing by death waits, we’re not immortal death waits, we’re not immortal if only if only i could live a little more if only you would whisper into my ear: “life will pass us in an instant.” and what have i done with mine?
2.
Limitless 03:20
i shine a light of meaning into the darkness of mere being it hurts to know how small my life would be, compared to the potential inside of me am i part of the infinite? can i be part of the infinite? infinite i shine, i glow, i venture into the darkness in search of the essential it hurts to deny that my soul is crying out to serve that which desires to be expressed part of the infinite part of the infinite i shine, i burn, a star within the darkness; reaching out i’m limitless am i part of the infinite? can i be infinite?
3.
holly said she gave herself away. to feel safe, to trust it got her nowhere, two steps backwards. smiles and promises that meant nothing the one who demeaned her body, the one who shamed her fears “one promised love, one promised respect. words, all just words.” “one promised love, one promised respect. one promised love, just wanted sex took what they wanted, i gave myself to them one promised love, one promised respect. one promised love, just wanted sex one promised love, will you be just like them?”
4.
maybe i could stop by you’ll look at my bike, you know that chain won’t stay on “unchain my heart,” i’d say in an unironic way, but you’ve heard that a hundred times before i see you through the shop side door like when we met last summer i remember you adjusting my seat, and your hands touching me i never asked anything of you, i never asked anything, never only if you loved me, better only if you loved me only if you loved me, better than her the temperature dropped another degree, it will slowly fall to absolute zero and you’d think by now i’d know for sure, but i’ve grown pretty numb so i’ll wait, i’ll wait, when i dream you still love me until all motion stops at absolute zero, i’d say there’s still a chance
5.
Affinity 03:12
the past: fading stories the future: unknown borders you linger in my thoughts, i gently let you go your choice out of my control in moments of intensity i awaken love and intimacy affinity and honesty let me whisper my dream so tenderly i open to love love and intimacy honesty and affinity
6.
7.
Six thirteen 04:43
8.
Zug köln 04:08
9.
walking through a grove i approached a man sitting in the grass he smiled at me as he stood to speak he said, “i’ll use my finger to point at myself.” and then instead of pointing at his body he pointed at me and then he pointed at the river and he pointed at the trees and he said, “the universe is in you. and you’re in the universe. the universe is in you. and you’re in the universe.” he said, “imagine all that is left of your body is a white skeleton lying on the face of the earth. see the bones of your skull, your ribs, your hips, your legs, your arms, your fingers. retain a half smile, that skeleton is not you. your body is not you. the body, the body, the body.” and he said, “the universe is in you. and you’re in the universe. you’re present in every moment. and every moment is in you.” he said, “smile and breathe as you concentrate on the point of your life’s beginning, know that it is also the point of beginning of your death. see that both your life and death exist together. their existence depends on each other. the two are not enemies, but aspects of the same reality.” and he said, “the universe is in you. and you’re in the universe. if you don’t embrace your death, you’ll hardly know how to live.”
10.
we think because we’re intelligent, that the universe favors intelligence we think because we’re alive, that the universe favors life but what proves to you that you know? what proves to you that you know? maybe the universe favored the desert rat-kangaroo or the passenger pigeon, javan tiger, seems unlikely it would favor me and you and don’t let it discourage you, don’t let it discourage you maybe the universe favored the desert rat-kangaroo or the barbary lion, the golden toad, seems too arbitrary that it would be me and you
11.
She's gone 04:02
she was so incomprehensible, so incomprehensible she didn’t dance, she seldom laughed, she never cried she wasn’t the first girl to dump me, but she dumped me on the phone, and it brought out all these old feelings who would love me and just drop me unless i didn’t deserve love. unless i didn’t deserve love i guess it shows i was unloveable, you left because i was unloveable you’re gone, you’re gone, you’re gone; you’re gone away. i just don’t understand it’s gone, it’s gone, it’s gone; love’s gone away. love’s a lot like insanity, anyway a couple of photos, a broken boxspring, that’s all that’s left of us it’s fine, i’m fine, it’s time to move on...
12.
13.
(for sasha) we’re ephemeral intimate, transient, so vulnerable we look up at the stars they’re inside of us you’re inside me and i’m inside you stand by my bed telling me stories of who we once were things i’ve forgotten that made me laugh we’re all stars we shine within each other’s eyes don’t be sad, don’t say life’s unfair what an amazing, unforgettable life i’ve lived you’re inside me and i’m inside of you you’re inside me and i’m inside you, too the most beautiful moments remain so dear to us when you first held my hand or when you saw both my strengths and flaws or when you were six jumping to bowie in your yellow raincoat let’s hold hands now and together we’ll leap

about

Picking up Blacktape’s classic 90s darkwave, ethereal sound; original vocalist Oscar returns on their 30th anniversary.

SHORT TEXT

Given where Black Tape for a Blue Girl began over a quarter of a century ago with founder Sam Rosenthal’s exploration of brooding, extended electronics and strings meshed with deeply revealing lyrics and darkly textured, melodramatic vocal performances, it’s striking to see his muse and inspiration reach a new peak on their 11th album, These Fleeting Moments. The ethereal, gothic and darkAmbient stylings that made them one of the originators of American darkwave are offered on this release which coincides with the band’s 30th anniversary. Rosenthal reinvigorates their classic sound with the return of original vocalist Oscar Herrera, absent from music for 17 years.

The band emerges from the studio with 70 minutes of powerful, gorgeously yearning tracks born from the same place as their 90s classics Remnants of a Deeper Purity and A Chaos of Desire. Sam’s lyrics explore the existential predicaments of time’s passage, choices questioned, and loves lost. Oscar’s darkly dramatic vocals are complemented by Dani Herrera’s emotional and heartfelt voice, Nick Shadow’s visceral viola, Brian Viglione’s (The Dresden Dolls) driving drums, and Rosenthal’s pensive electronics and revelatory songwriting.

Director David Lynch, former pornographic actress Sasha Grey and writer Poppy Z. Brite are some of their more well-known fans.


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On their 30th anniversary, Black Tape For A Blue Girl returns to their evocative ethereal, neoclassical, gothic roots with an album exploring the existential predicaments of time’s passage, choices questioned, and loves lost. Original vocalist Oscar Herrera rejoins the band after a 17-year absence. His darkly dramatic vocals are complemented by Dani Herrera’s emotional and heartfelt voice, Nick Shadow’s visceral viola, Brian Viglione’s driving drums, and band-founder Sam Rosenthal’s pensive electronics and revelatory songwriting.

These Fleeting Moments, their 11th studio release, is 70 minutes of powerful, gorgeously yearning tracks born from the same place as their 90s classics Remnants of a Deeper Purity and A Chaos of Desire.

“For this album,” Sam says, “I picked up threads of our 90s sound. I wrote those intense, passionate songs that Oscar delivers so wonderfully. Adding Nick’s breathtaking strings atop my synth-horn and electronic textures, and writing 25 minutes of instrumentals, really brings this album back to the essential Blacktape sound.”

Oscar’s involvement is more than a nostalgic appearance — he sings seven songs. Accompanying Oscar is his daughter Dani, who was not even a year old when the band recorded their 1986 debut, The Rope. Her lead vocals on four tracks bring an absorbing intermingling of voices to this release. At times Dani’s singing carries a youthful, breathy softness, such as on the brokenheartedness of “She’s gone.” “She wasn’t the first girl to dump me, but she dumped me on the phone, and it brought out all these old feelings. Who would love me and just drop me unless I didn’t deserve love. Unless I didn’t deserve love.”

The band boldly opens the album with “The vastness of life,” a 17-minute five-part epic reminiscent of Remnants’ “For you will burn your wings upon the sun.” It’s an expressive track — powerfully solemn, stirringly elegant and evocative — drifting between defiant, resigned and striking vocal sections and floating ambient passages. The lyrics explore the album’s theme: questions about life choices, our personal story, and if we have the courage to live in service to our ideals.

The album’s lyrics range from emotionally wrought to delicately sensitive, detailing fears of revealing the true self, betrayal of one’s body in the hands of a lover’s promises, contemplating our interconnectedness to others, or poking fun at mankind’s belief that we are more important than other animals.
Sam continues, “The fleetingness of time has become part of the questions I am asking. We are finite in our being but infinite in our hopes and longings. Life will pass us in an instant, and I ask myself if I am courageously living my true self in the world? Or are we all a bit hunched over, hiding from the possibilities?”

After three decades recording music and running the Projekt record label, Sam drew upon internationally-acclaimed talent to record the album. Guest musicians include The Dresden Dolls’ drummer Brian Viglione, SoulWhirlingSomewhere’s vocalist Michael Plaster, and electronic solo artists Erik Wøllo and Mark Seelig. Newcomer Chase Dobson adds guitars and bass.
In the catchiest track, the luxuriant “Limitless,” Oscar sings, “I shine, I glow, I venture into the darkness in search of the essential.” Sam’s thought-provoking lyrics invite self-examination without becoming too weighty — the earnest themes explored on the album have a palatable sense of optimism in the face of adversity and are buoyed by the ebb and flow of the band’s superb performances. Indeed, These Fleeting Moments finishes on a high note, a song sung from father to son on the elder’s death bed; even in that, there is the suggestion that a way through can be found by remembering that “the most beautiful moments remain so dear to us.”

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The deluxe CD edition and double-lp vinyl edition were funded at Kickstarter. kck.st/1NAqsMO Thanks so much to all my supporters.

I appreciate all your enthusiasm for my music over the past 30 years. Thanks,

Sam

credits

released August 12, 2016

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Black Tape For A Blue Girl Portland, Oregon

Black Tape For A Blue Girl creates darkwave, ethereal, neoclassical, ambient, goth albums. This page also includes my ambient/electronic music, as well as side-projects. Thanks for listening. Sam

Patrons receive exclusive music: blacktapeforabluegirl.bandcamp.com/patron

Formed in 1986
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