In Spanish, bella means beautiful, and fea means ugly. Chapel Hill three-pi… Read Full Bio ↴In Spanish, bella means beautiful, and fea means ugly. Chapel Hill three-piece Bellafea fulfills the possibility of its name. The voice of Heather McEntire can coo or curse. Her guitar can sway or slash. Drummer Nathan Buchanan can lock into a popping rhythm or crack it open from its seams. Bassist Eddie Sanchez can ooze into the gaps or flood them. But none of these characteristics are mutually exclusive: Bellafea’s roar can be beautiful, and its whimper can be ugly. Bellafea’s unlikely backstory fits the name and sound. Heather McEntire was a freshman from the mountains of North Carolina adjusting to her new coastal college and moonlighting with a performance art troupe. She formed an acoustic guitar-and-violin duo and started working at the campus radio station. Fellow DJ Brent Fuscaldo offered to play drums. He quit. Nathan Buchanan joined on bass, then drums. The pair won a local Battle Of The Bands. Fame was imminent. But Heather moved to Chapel Hill as the band split an Exotic Fever seven-inch with new friends Des Ark. Nathan quit. First drummer Brent moved closer to Heather and played drums on 2003 EP Family Tree (Pidgeon English). Brent quit Bellafea for Chicago. Nathan moved to Chapel Hill. He joined Bellafea for a second time. They didn’t catch their breath. Heather and Nathan played and wrote, touring with The Rosebuds and The Mountain Goats. “You don’t see a stage presence like Heather McEntire’s more than a few times in your life,” main Mountain Goat John Darnielle told Pitchfork Media. “She’s unbelievable.” Darnielle agreed to sing on Bellafea’s first album, which Brian Paulson—familiar from Slint, Superchunk, Wilco, Beck and The Rosebuds—agreed to record. Eddie Sanchez had been doubling on keyboards and bass for a decade with Florida transplants Fin Fang Foom, and he agreed to play bass. Bellafea recorded. Southern signed them. And here we are with Cavalcade, an album that moves in contrasts and dynamics as facts of life. And, if you’ve been paying attention to anything at all, you already know they are.

Thorn Bird
Bellafea Lyrics

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Winter is brutal when it's silent and cold.
You have made things so much worse.

Roses howl in the wind tonight.
You are somewhere not alone.

What is erotic about eradication?
It's been a slow and gorgeous dive

And if the wind is blowing just right,

Your melody will survive.

Overall Meaning

Bellafea's song Thorn Bird is a dark and sombre track that delves deep into the emotional psyche of the singer. The opening lyrics "Winter is brutal when it's silent and cold. You have made things so much worse." suggest a sense of hopelessness and despair in the face of an unrelenting winter. The use of the second person pronoun "you" hints at a malevolent presence that has made things even worse for the singer. It creates a sense of conflict that is palpable throughout the track.

The second verse "Roses howl in the wind tonight. You are somewhere not alone." adds a layer of mystery to the track. The howling of the roses could be interpreted as either a metaphor for emotional pain or the presence of some supernatural force. The line "You are somewhere not alone" further adds to the ambiguity by suggesting that the singer is not alone but also not in the presence of anything human. This creates a sense of foreboding and tension as the narrative unfolds.

The final lines "What is erotic about eradication? It's been a slow and gorgeous dive. And if the wind is blowing just right, Your melody will survive" suggest a certain level of nihilism and fatalism in the singer's thinking. The idea that there could be something erotic about eradication is both deeply unsettling and intriguing. It raises questions about the nature of eroticism and what it means to truly let go. The use of the word "melody" suggests that the singer has some sort of creative outlet and that this will somehow endure beyond the chaos and pain of the present moment.

Overall, Bellafea's Thorn Bird is a powerful and evocative track that explores the darker aspects of human nature. It is full of imagery and symbolism that leaves the listener with more questions than answers.

Line by Line Meaning

Winter is brutal when it's silent and cold.
You have made things so much worse.

Roses howl in the wind tonight.
You are somewhere not alone.

What is erotic about eradication?
It's been a slow and gorgeous dive

And if the wind is blowing just right,
Your melody will survive.

Contributed by Charlie T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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