In the fall of 1994, very impressed by the debut single set, kranky got in touch with the band. The debut, self-titled album was recorded with Mike Deming at Studio .45 in Hartford, CT in January 1995. Bowery Electric was released on compact disc and vinyl in mid-1995. As The Wire described it, Bowery Electric "weave chilled downbeat dirges via hazy sheets of distorted guitar (that sound as though they were recorded underwater), stumbling sluggish percussion and benumbed male/female vocals... the album works as a sustained moodpiece...". Or, as Chris Wodskou put it in the Sept. 1995 issue of Exclaim!, "Bowery Electric shimmer in the way a 20 foot sheet of metal shimmers and resonates when vibrated. A sharp pop confection with the blunt force of a three-alarm headache."
Simon Reynolds' seminal post-Rock article in the November 1995 issue of The Wire placed Bowery Electric in the forefront of "a distinctively American post-rock." The band returned to Studio .45 to work on the second full length release with engineer Rich Costley. With the acquisition of samplers, the band's song writing process (which had always started with the bass track and drum beats) expanded. The resulting album, Beat, featured a drummer on four out of ten tracks, with plenty of subtly sampled beats and bass tones anchoring the bottom end. Lawrence Chandler told Alternative Press that "technologically [Beat] is the beginning of us learning our way around a proper sampler and software which allows us to work with samples on the computer. We can sample ourselves, manipulate sounds, create our own beats and basically work with fewer restrictions." Beggar's Banquet licensed Beat for release in the U.K. and Europe and with drummer Wayne Magruder added to the group, Bowery Electric began tours of the U.K. and North America.
Melody Maker reviewed a show in July 1997 and noted that "for two people to be able to create such a huge, rolling epic sound is surprising; what really hits hard is just how huge it can be, how the inarguable and pulverising beauty of BE's sound simply forces a slacked out crowd into its swell."
Beggar's Banquet released Vertigo, a collection of remixes of Beat tracks by Main, Third Eye Foundation, Chasm, Witchman, Immersion and others. Beat was the last album Bowery Electric made for kranky, they went on to release an EP (Blow Up/Electro Sleep) and album (Lushlife) for Beggar's Banquet and ultimately broke up in 2000.
Eventually, Lawrence formed a solo project called Metrotech, while Martha formed a project called Echostar. So far Martha released one album, Sola, as Echostar, but Lawrence only appeared with a remix on Calla's Custom.
Passages
Bowery Electric Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Lie too many and many a time
Cross the river, the river of bones
Saw the flagship of summer on the water
And my eyes fell to the edges and dregs of peace
Pack my hearts, dazzled minds
Looked at the fires, looked at the fronts
Centrifugal spokes of mine
Some live in water
Many and many a time
Lie too many and many a time
Cross the river, the river of bones
Saw reflections of summer in the skies
And my eyes, and my eyes, says my summer
Burn shivering tracks of leaves
(Sample: Hilda Doolittle reading her poem "Helen in Egypt")
"Passages" by Bowery Electric is a haunting and surreal song that speaks to the complexities of human experience. The opening lines, "Lie too many and many a time," suggest a sense of regret, as if the singer has been dishonest or unfaithful. The repetition of this phrase reinforces this idea, as if the singer is trying to come to terms with their past mistakes. The reference to the "river of bones" adds to the sense of darkness and foreboding, as if the singer is facing some kind of mortal danger.
The next lines, "Saw the flagship of summer on the water / And my eyes fell to the edges and dregs of peace," are similarly ambiguous. The image of a "flagship of summer" has a dreamlike quality, as if the singer is remembering a moment of joy or happiness. However, this moment is undercut by the reference to "the edges and dregs of peace," which suggests that this happiness was fleeting or insubstantial. The lines that follow, "Pack my hearts, dazzled minds / Looked at the fires, looked at the fronts / Centrifugal spokes of mine / Round the shape, my heading," are similarly enigmatic. The reference to "centrifugal spokes" suggests a sense of motion or transformation, as if the singer is being pulled in different directions. The final lines, "Some live in water / Many and many a time / Lie too many and many a time / Cross the river, the river of bones / Saw reflections of summer in the skies / And my eyes, and my eyes, says my summer / Burn shivering tracks of leaves," further reinforce this sense of ambiguity, as the singer seems to be reflecting on the nature of memory and experience.
Overall, "Passages" is a complex and elliptical song that draws on a range of surrealist and symbolic images to capture the fleeting and enigmatic nature of human experience. Through its use of repetition and ambiguity, the song suggests that the singer is struggling to come to terms with their past mistakes and their uncertain future.
Line by Line Meaning
Lie too many and many a time
I have lied a lot, repeatedly
Lie too many and many a time
I have lied a lot, repeatedly
Cross the river, the river of bones
I have crossed the river of death
Saw the flagship of summer on the water
I saw the essence of summer on the water
And my eyes fell to the edges and dregs of peace
I became aware of the remnants of peace
Pack my hearts, dazzled minds
I gather my emotions and thoughts that are in a state of confusion
Looked at the fires, looked at the fronts
I observed the fires and battles happening around me
Centrifugal spokes of mine
My thoughts are dispersed in different directions
Round the shape, my heading
I am navigating towards an uncertain destination
Some live in water
Some people belong in a watery environment
Many and many a time
Numerous times
Lie too many and many a time
I have lied a lot, repeatedly
Cross the river, the river of bones
I have crossed the river of death
Saw reflections of summer in the skies
I saw the image of summer in the sky
And my eyes, and my eyes, says my summer
My summer reminds me of the past experiences that I had seen through my eyes
Burn shivering tracks of leaves
Leaves are shivering while burning
Contributed by Jordyn S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.