The group recorded its first release for the label, Livonia, in Defever's home studio. The album features Oliver's shivery vocals along with tape loops, samples, and guitar blasts, for a noise-damaged, ethereal collection of songs about ghosts, reincarnation, and dreams. By 1992's Home Is in Your Head, the band's lineup and scope expanded. New singers Denise James, Karen Neal, Melissa Elliott, and guitarist Jymn Auge added depth and breadth to the band's original lineup. An epic 23 songs long, Home Is in Your Head ranges from folky ballads to electrifying guitar maelstroms and tape collages. That year also saw the release of The Dirt Eaters EP, named for Defever's other, more rock-oriented group, of which Elliot was also a member. In 1993, His Name Is Alive released two albums: King of Sweet, a limited-edition release that mixed tape effects, samples, demos, and unreleased songs, and Mouth by Mouth, which added more pop structure into the group's inherently experimental and dreamy sound, resulting in its most accessible and diverse album to that date. A new drummer, Trey Many, took over Lang's duties.
As Defever's reputation as an innovative producer spread, he lent his skills to bands like Grenadine, a side project of Tsunami's Jenny Toomey and Unrest's Mark Robinson, other 4AD acts like Liquorice (which featured Toomey, Dan Littleton from Ida, and His Name Is Alive's Many) and Tarnation, and other Detroit-area bands like Godzuki and Outrageous Cherry. Defever also worked on other projects, including the folky ESP Summer (with former Pale Saint Ian Masters) and the electronic Robot World and Control Panel, and founded the Time Stereo art collective with a childhood friend, artist/musician Davin Brainard. Some of Time Stereo's projects included films, coloring books, and cassette-only releases from bands like Princess Dragon Mom, the Crash, Godzuki, New Grape, and Noise Camp.
Defever's diverse interests influenced His Name Is Alive's next release, 1996's Stars on ESP. Very little of the group's original ethereal sound remained, augmented instead with touches of dub, folk, gospel, and early- to mid-'60s pop like the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. At the time of the album's release, Defever claimed that he was so fascinated by the group's "Good Vibrations" that he listened to it for months at a time. The following year's Nice Day EP reached to garage rock and '60s R&B for its inspiration, and featured some of the gospel singers from Stars on ESP, including Lovetta Pippen, whose singing also gave His Name Is Alive's 1998 LP, Fort Lake, an earthy sensuality. Fort Lake also marked the first time the band worked with another producer, recording engineer Steve King. King, another Livonia native, had also worked with Funkadelic and Aretha Franklin, and his touch meshes nicely with the funk, soul, and classic rock allusions His Name Is Alive makes on the album. In preparation for recording Fort Lake -- named after a waterlogged Civil War fort in Michigan -- the group played monthly shows at the Gold Dollar, a tiny Detroit club. At this time, Pippen, bassist Chad Gilchrist, and additional drummer Scott Goldstein debuted as part of the new lineup.
In 1999, His Name Is Alive released a U.S. compilation of tracks from their first five albums called Always Stay Sweet; at the time, those albums were only available as British imports. Like the rest of the band's work, the compilation highlights their mercurial, unique nature. Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth appeared two years later. Released in 2002, the darkly soulful Last Night ended up being the group's final album for 4AD, but His Name Is Alive found other outlets for their music, and were actually busier than ever. Time Stereo released several CDs, such as 2004's ten-disc Cloud Box set, Leaf Club, Brown Rice, and The Detroit River, as well as many MP3-only works, including the Summer Bird and Something_Nothing EPs and a remastered version of King of Sweet. UFO Catcher was released in 2005 on CD by the German label En/Of and on vinyl by Time Stereo, while Ypsilanti Records issued the full-length Summer Bird that spring. Late in 2005, His Name Is Alive released the Raindrops Rainbow EP via iTunes as a teaser for Detrola, their debut for Reincarnate, also the home of fellow former 4AD artist Lisa Germano and Sing-Sing, the project of former Lush member Emma Anderson.
My Feathers Needed Cleaning
His Name Is Alive Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Into the ground
We're going farther under
To better hear the thunder
If the devil had wings
We'd all marry slaves
And sing the praise
Of all we'd have saved
ne qwi na ta wa na be
Na so a ka me a ki
This song, My Feathers Needed Cleaning by His Name Is Alive, is a haunting piece that seems to explore themes of mortality, religious imagery, and the struggle to find meaning in life. The opening lines, "I'm taking you down / Into the ground / We're going farther under / To better hear the thunder" create a sense of descent, as if the singer is leading us on a journey into the depths of the earth or the afterlife. The phrase "better hear the thunder" may suggest that this journey is one of discovery or revelation, as if the singer is hoping to find something in the darkness that they couldn't see before.
The next lines, "If the devil had wings / We'd all marry slaves / And sing the praise / Of all we'd have saved" introduce a more sinister tone, with the devil and slavery being ancient symbols of oppression and evil. It's possible that this line is a comment on the way we sometimes willingly submit to our own enslavement to material things or harmful ideologies, praising the things we think will save us even when they only serve to keep us chained. The final lines of the song, "ne qwi na ta wa na be / Na so a ka me a ki," are difficult to interpret as they appear to be in a language other than English. It's possible that they are meant to be purely musical, without any specific meaning, or they may contain subtle clues or hints to the song's deeper themes.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm taking you down
I'm leading you into a deep introspection about yourself
Into the ground
Into the depths of your emotions
We're going farther under
We're delving deeper and deeper into the psyche
To better hear the thunder
In order to confront and deal with the tumultuous feelings within
If the devil had wings
In difficult times, anything can happen
We'd all marry slaves
We would willingly submit ourselves to our inner demons
And sing the praise
And celebrate the victory of conquering them
Of all we'd have saved
Of all the good that could come out of it
ne qwi na ta wa na be
This is not meaningful English, but may be a phrase in another language or a made up phrase.
Na so a ka me a ki
This is also not meaningful English, but may be a phrase in another language or a made up phrase.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: WARREN DEFEVER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind