The band really was born in 1979, called Suicide Commando, but this name was dropped for the existence of a namesake band. So, when Bergamini started to interest to paranormal phenomena, he knew about a special device invented by Semion Kirlian to take photos of the aura of the human body and from this took the name of the group, suggested by Mauro Montacchini.
Other initial components of the band were the keyboardist Fabrizio Chiari and the bassist Mauro Montacchini. In 1980 the singer Simona Buja joined the band and the group was completed.
The first live apparition was in 1980 at Teatro Cristallo in Milan (Italy).
Considered the Fathers of the Italian Electronic Music, the long career of Kirlian Camera started recording and sending 25 copies of the Dawn tape to the main Italian labels.
Contemporary, Montacchini left the band and he was replaced by Giorgio Vecchi. So the band records the first miniLP Kirlian Camera, released by Italian Records.
New changes of line-up in 1982: Fabrizio Chiari left the band to join East Wall, and his substitute is the polistrumentist Paul Sears, while Bruno Bizzarri replaced Vecchi.
Meanwhile some records for various labels follow (note that Passing Masks was released under the name of Simona Buja because the band was still contracted with Italian Records) and finally the first full-length LP, It Doesn't Matter, Now, from which will be out two singles.
The official line-up is then Bergamini credited as keyboardist/writer and Sears that performs synths and bass. However present are the bassist Paolo Marchesi, and the producer/drummer (in a track) Charlie Mallozzi.
After this work, line-up changes again and together with the guide Angelo Bergamini and Paul Sears comes back Simona Buja as vocalist and the bassist Bizzarri. Furthermore, the electronic drummer Piero Canavera and the unofficial guitarist Renato Ollivo join the band.
It follows the hit-single Blue Room that gives a lot of popularity to the group in Europe, and some contrast inside: Paul Sears left the band, and with the new-entry producer/drummer Charlie Mallozzi (already present in It Doesn't Matter, Now) begins the sodalice with the new label, Virgin Music.
The band gained a lot of popularity and even TV appearances, especially in Italy. But this label tried to repeat the exploit of the previous single, refusing to release not-commercial material (like the entire materials then released in 1995 on 1985-1986 / I), and promoting possible hit-singles like Ocean and releasing Heldenplatz only thanks to the insistance of Bergamini.
While Simona Buja left the band, Kirlian Camera finally free from Virgin's contract releases the second LP, Eclipse Das Schwarze Denkmal, preceded by Austria single.
The line-up for this album is particulary consistent, and comprises the momentary return of Montacchini. The very important changing happens after some year, with the joining of vocalist Emilia Lo Jacono (also keyboardist), that becomes the second permanent member together of course with Bergamini, that plays always more instruments.
For the indipendent label of Lo Jacono, Heaven's Gate, it's released in 1991 the third LP called Todesengel The Fall Of Life that obtains good sales, permitting the band to continue his travel.
So, with the new permanent member Simon Balestrazzi, (percussions, guitar programming), the band releases an impressive amount of records, principally licensed by Discordia (The Label). These records often present contributions by other musicians, and sometimes Kirlian Camera collaborates with entire other groups, like Andromeda Complex, Dive, :Wumpscut:.
In parallel, the live activity was born and improved. In fact, apart Italy, the band often plays gigs in Germany and near countries like Austria, Switzerland and Holland, and its popularity grew. Many tours happen especially in Germany, like the tour in Summer 1993 with Mephisto Waltz (Nigra Nebula as supporter), and the "Dark X'Mas Festival" mini-tour at the end of that year with Dive, Die Form, Cat Rapes Dog and so on. Very intense are also the "Total Eclipse Tour" in 1995 with Second Decay as supporter, followed by the "Obsession Tour" to promote the split work with Dive, together with Dive itself and the supporter Arcana Obscura, in Germany and Belgium.
But it's to promote Pictures For Eternity that the band plays their best gigs, during the 1996 "Eternity Tour" in Germany and Austria, supported by Limbo, and during the "Pictures '97 Tour" in 1997, that reachs also Holland (supported by Camerata Mediolanense).
In 1997 there is another important line-up changing: Balestrazzi drops out, and Barbara Boffelli (vocals) and Ivano Bizzi (keyboards, already sporadic collaborator that soon won't play in band but continue to rotate around the group) join. Follow a pair of long miniCDs like The Desert Inside and Drifting and a long waited double retrospective (The Ice Curtain) that permits to hear what Kirlian Camera played almost two decades before.
After other concerts (like a Germany tour in Spring 1998 and even a Slovenia mini-tour), an incredible event happened: Germany press, the famous newspaper "Der Spiegel", throws racism accusation against the band (also against Death In June and Non), inviting the followers to boicottate the gigs and the band itself.
So, in the successive single The Burning Sea, Bergamini and the rest of Kirlian Camera were forced to insert a CD-ROM video that in absolute silence explains the absurdity and the lack of fundament of these accusations, moved by astute persons that try to control people with deceive for own interests (like the research of a scandal to improve the printing of their magazines/newspapers).
Of course the promotion of the following album Unidentified Light was condizionated by these unfortunate events and during the Unidentified Light Tour the band was forced sometimes to obey at the rules of the "politically correct" eye.
In 2000 again a new line-up change. The official formation includes of course Bergamini and Emilia Lo Jacono, but Barbara Boffelli drops out. She is replaced by Elena Fossi, already credited for Unidentified Light.
The next work was called Still Air and sees Kirlian Camera returning to the oppressive and chilly atmospheres of a past time, obtaining enthusiastic reviews everywhere. Unfortunatly some bad events continued, like the very unfortunate gig organized at Kassel (Germany) by Thaglasz, the Death In June fan-club, where the band was forced to play outside the factory where was projected the concert.
2000 however was a rich year for the band, because a very ambitious project was realized (and released the year after), a box called Kalte Container that is the right tribute for the 20 years of a band so little understood and always criticized with no real reasons.
Meanwhile a new miniCD called Absentee, that reachs full-lenght album timing, was released by this three-elements formation and, presented as the ideal companion of Still Air, for many it's even better.
In 2002 a series of re-releases is announced to allow many Kirlian Camera fans to get unfindable material. The most important of this is surely Uno that features, after 22 years of existence, the first demo and the first 12".
This year sees also the rising of many side-project releases, the most important are surely Stalingrad, the project of Angelo Bergamini, Elena Fossi and Ivano Bizzi, and Siderartica, Elena Fossi band with the help of Andrea Savelli and her brother Andrea Fossi.
Meanwhile lots of attacks come toward the band, the usual pseudo anti-nazi propaganda, that causes some concert deletation and various boring events.
Emilia Lo Jacono becomes a collaborator of the band due her charge of work.
At the beginning of 2003 Mauro Montacchini, older co-founder of the band, joins again Kirlian Camera, whose line-up then sees also Angelo Bergamini and Elena Fossi, while live line-up sees alternatively also Emilia Lo Jacono, Nancy Appiah, Roberta Astolfo (also known as Leutha), the new entry Lydia Dumfeh and the previous singer Barbara Boffelli. Later, Mia Karin Egger joins too.
Moreover, the band self-releases the first official live disc called Live In London, taken from a shocking concert in London in November 2003, as a special limited edition available at the concerts only.
After so many line-up changes, especially concerning live act, at the beginning of 2004 the band seems to reach a definitive studio formation: Angelo Bergamini and Elena Fossi of course, with the addition of Simone Mulè coming from "La Fille Biaise".
But this year will be remembered due the release of the masterpiece Invisible Front. 2005, album waited since three years that sees collaborations with Naevus, Jarboe and so on, and represents a new era for the band, as well as Still Air already traced the beginning.
With the powerful German label Trisol behind, this album sold something like 11,000 copies in about a month, and quickly became one of the most appreciated ever.
Most of the 2005 was spent into isolated but successful gigs along the Europe. Greece, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Holland saw perfomances of Kirlian Camera and/or Siderartica/Stalingrad, as well as a new creature, the solo-project of Angelo Bergamini called Uranium USSR 1972.
Meanwhile, always more insistent voices spoke about a follow-up of Invisible Front. 2005.
Finally, after a live preview of the new album held in Prato in October 2005, on the end of January 2006 the new amazing record saw the light. Called Coroner's Sun, the first limited edition (including a full-length Bonus CD with exclusive material) was declared sold-out just after few days since the release.
Comfortably Numb
Kirlian Camera Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hello,
Is there anybody in there
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone at home
Come on now
I hear you're feeling down
And get you on your feet again
Relax
I'll need some information first
Just the basic facts
Can you show me where it hurts
There is no pain, you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am
I have become comfortably numb
O.K.
Just a little pin prick
There'll be no more aaaaaaaah!
But you may feel a little sick
Can you stand up?
I do belive it's working, good
That'll keep you going through the show
Come on it's time to go.
There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
And I have become
Comfortably numb.
The song, Comfortably Numb, begins as a conversation between two people, one being the singer who seems to have identified that the other person is feeling low and down. The singer tries to comfort the person by promising to ease their pain and asking for basic information to better understand their situation. The second verse is where the singer begins to experience a similar feeling that they had in their childhood when they had a fever. The feeling is quite difficult to explain, and the other person might not be able to comprehend it. The singer has become 'comfortably numb' and no longer feels much pain, which is why they believe they can be of help.
The song reflects the singers' emotional numbness and their inability to feel anything. Additionally, it might also be interpreted as a criticism of the medical profession and its use of medication to treat emotional distress. The strong image of "a little pin prick" and having "that feeling once again" indicates a cycle of dependence and an attempt to escape feelings rather than dealing with them. Comfortably Numb is a deeply emotional song revealing the feeling of being trapped in one's emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Hello,
The singer is trying to get the attention of someone who may be mentally withdrawn
Is there anybody in there
Asking if the person is present mentally
Just nod if you can hear me
Asking if the person can acknowledge communication
Is there anyone at home
Asking if the person is aware and present mentally
Come on now
Encouragement to the person to engage
I hear you're feeling down
Acknowledgement of the person's emotional state
I can ease your pain
Offering a solution to the person's pain
And get you on your feet again
Helping the person recover and regain control over their life
Relax
Encouragement to the person to calm down and feel at ease
I'll need some information first
Asking for details to understand the situation better
Just the basic facts
Requesting simple and necessary information only
Can you show me where it hurts
Asking for a physical demonstration of pain to better assess and address the problem
There is no pain, you are receding
The person has disassociated themselves from their physical and/or emotional pain
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
Visualizing an image of something far away and unreachable
You are coming through in waves
The person's thoughts and emotions are not stable and consistent
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
The artist is having trouble understanding the person's words or message
When I was a child I had a fever
The artist is reminiscing about a past memory
My hands felt just like two balloons
Visualizing a feeling of numbness and detachment from one's body
Now I've got that feeling once again
The singer is experiencing a similar feeling again
I can't explain, you would not understand
The artist has trouble conveying a feeling or experience to the person
This is not how I am
The artist feels like they are not themselves or are disconnected from their true self
I have become comfortably numb
The artist has emotionally detached themselves from their pain and experiences
O.K.
Confirmation that the procedure is about to begin
Just a little pin prick
A small injection needed to begin treatment
There'll be no more aaaaaaaah!
The injection may hurt briefly but it will end quickly
But you may feel a little sick
A possible side effect of the treatment
Can you stand up?
Checking if the person is physically capable of standing up after the injection
I do belive it's working, good
The treatment is having a positive effect
That'll keep you going through the show
The person can continue with their life with this assisted numbness
Come on it's time to go.
The singer is ready to move on from this interaction
When I was a child
The singer is reminiscing about their past
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Seeing something briefly and only partially
Out of the corner of my eye
A small detail or glimpse that may be easily overlooked
I turned to look but it was gone
The artist was not able to grasp or keep what they saw
I cannot put my finger on it now
The singer cannot recall or fully understand what they saw
The child is grown
The artist has grown and changed since they were a child
The dream is gone
The past dream or vision is no longer part of the singer's current reality
And I have become
The singer has transformed into something different
Comfortably numb.
The singer has become emotionally detached and numb to the world around them
Contributed by Alyssa P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Noir
I love KC since 15 years now. And after all, Elena never seems to fail live. That's so amazing, her voice is so majestic.
Pedro Correa
MUITO BOM COVER DOS PINK FLOYD MARAVILHA
Michaikn
Muito bom letters...
WildManOf t North norseman
I love pink Floyd and I love this version from my favourite band KC ❤️
Marco Silvestrini
La cover più bella di questo capolavoro ! Da brivido! 🥀🌚🙏😍
KocuroPablo
The singer has an angelic voice!
Rin Rife
This is phenomenal.
Michaela Präger
uncredible, awesome Sound ! ILOVE IT SO MUCH! GIMME MORE!!!
Jonas Snell
That's a cool cover, I of course will always heavily favor the original !
Simon GothFather
Surprisingly. The only cover version i would ever rate as superb....