Subtle began in 2001 when Dax Pierson, an employee at the Amoeba Music record store in Berkeley, CA., met Adam Drucker at the record store. They decided to try and make some music together. The first time they got together Pierson also invited Alexander Kort to the session, whom Pierson had collaborated on performing, composing and improvising a score for some classic silent films (Marty Dowers was also a part of these collaborations). Later that year, Pierson was invited to an open mic show and invited other musicians to form a one-time group for a predominately improvised twenty minute performance. Pierson invited Marty Dowers (woodwind/synth), Jordan Dalrymple (drums/guitar) — a fellow Amoeba Music employee — and Alexander Kort (cello), all of whom Pierson had previously played with. Everyone enjoyed playing together so much that they decided to continue on as a group and added mpc/drum machinist Jeff 'Jel' Logan and emcee/vocalist Adam 'Doseone' Drucker, who had both created music as the duo Themselves.
Over the course of 2002 and 2003 Subtle released their four 'season' EPs: Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring, which consisted mostly of homemade recordings and were released on Doseone's own label, A Purple 100. Winter was comprised solely of one 37-minute track which was entirely improvised at midnight on winter solstice. The EPs were eventually discontinued and replaced by the compilation album Earthsick in 2004, which was made up of the tracks thought by the band to be the best of the 'seasons' EPs and added four previously unreleased, untitled, improvised tracks.
In 2003 the band signed to Lex Records and, in 2004, released their first proper full-length, A New White. This album spawned the single "F.K.O.", which stands for "Fuck Kelly Osbourne". Introduced on the record, and a recurring character in much of Subtle's work, is 'Hour Hero Yes', an aspiring middle-class poet and rapper. He is mentioned throughout the two Subtle LPs and both remix compilations, as well as in the 13 & God (a collaboration between Doseone, Jel, Pierson and the Notwist) song "Ghostwork". Album and video artwork, as well as art on Subtle's official website, suggest 'Hour Hero Yes' to be a bald man with a black and white striped face — an image which is embodied by a bust that serves as a centerpiece prop during live Subtle shows. Their live shows are particularly noted for their theatricality, incorporating hand-painted backdrops, set props, "costumes", and theatrical monologues that go alongside the musical performances.
While on tour to promote A New White in 2005, the band's van went off the road after hitting a patch of black ice on a highway in Iowa. The driver, live sound engineer Patrick Scott and five members of the band sustained minor injuries, while Dax Pierson's upper spine was severely damaged, leaving him a quadriplegic. Dax has continued however to contribute to the band, but as of now, does not tour.
In 2006 the band released the CD/DVD Wishingbone, a sister album to A New White containing remixes of tracks from A New White, some remixed by Subtle, as well as new material. Three music videos were released on the DVD included with the album, all of which were produced by animation company SSSR. SSSR would also later create the video for the 2006 single "The Mercury Craze".
Subtle signed a distribution deal with Astralwerks/EMI as of July 2006. For Hero: For Fool was released in October 2006 on Lex and Astralwerks/EMI. Dax Pierson, rendered quadriplegic by their tour accident in 2005, contributed beatboxing, vocals and harmonica to the album and his contribution is prominently displayed on the final track, "The Ends". The album was received very well by critics, with Cokemachineglow.com declaring it their 2006 "Album of the Year". The single "The Mercury Craze" was released as a 7" Vinyl and CD single and is used as an opening for the German TV show Spam Deluxe.
In November 2006, while on tour in Europe, their tour van was robbed in Barcelona, Spain. Bags containing $15,000 worth of gear and personal belongings were stolen, including a laptop containing demos, draft lyrics and unreleased work. To try and recover some of the funds, Doseone drew personalized portraits of fans from photos they would send in.
Yell&Ice, a collection of remakes and remixes, was released October 2007, It featured collaborations with Why?, Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, Markus Acher of the Notwist, and Chris Adams of Hood. Just as Wishingbone revisited Subtle’s first LP A New White, Yell&Ice explores and reinterprets their preceding full-length, For Hero: For Fool. Unlike a typical collection of remixes, Yell&Ice utterly reapproaches the lyrics and music of For Hero: For Fool. In order to better suit the palette and prowess of each respective collaborator, lyrics were rewritten, sounds resampled, and time signatures unlocked. These songbones were then sent to various collaborators who then rewrote, sang, and sequenced to the tune of their talents.
Both Wishingbone and Yell&Ice were fashioned to further explore Subtle’s conceptual protagonist, 'Hour Hero Yes', while creating a medium for the band’s love of collaborative music making. Doseone has likened the albums to early rap maxi-singles which would contain tracks with the same backing music but different vocals.
On May 13th, 2008 The band released ExitingARM, the third album "in the ever-widening epic of Hour Hero Yes" which was accompanied by its own website with further poems on Yes' journey. The album was an attempt to create a more accessible sound.
It is intended that Subtle's first three studio albums (A New White, For Hero: For Fool and ExitingARM) serve as a trilogy about the rise and fall of the character 'Hour Hero Yes', and the character may indeed live on throughout the course of all their studio output, with the lyrics derived from his perspective.
During the ExitingARM tour, the OughtAlmanac of AmassedFact Vol. 1, a 70 page book that acts as a guide for the world in which 'Hour Hero YES' resides, was available for purchase at Subtle's merchandise booth. Limited to 100 pieces, the Almanac featured pages all hand painted by Doseone and accompanied by a 65 track mp3 CD of Doseone reading the Almanac in its entirety. All copies of the Almanac have the first and last pages torn out except for a small bit, where it is numbered and signed. The reading on the CD featured background noise from the improvisational sessions that later became ExitingARM as well as the crackle of a blank record. Exitingarm.com served as an online version of the book/CD.
WASHERE, the first live Subtle album contains a collection of 'hand-picked' live songs, alternate versions, and "original session" improvisations from their past five years of touring. WASHERE includes tracks from the rehearsals for the A New White tour. The tracks recorded "live at the mansion" are some of the only live performances that were recorded before the tour accident that left Dax Pierson quadriplegic.
Similar to what Wishingbone was to A New White and Yell&Ice to For Hero: For Fool, SmallFear Souvenir will be a remix/ re-interpretation album of ExitingARM. Artists confirmed to be working on it are Alias ("Sick Soft Perfection), Thee More Shallows ("Day Dangerous), Black Moth Super Rainbow ("GoneBones), Genghis Tron ("Take To Take) and Trans Am ("The No).
Videos, audio and news can be found on Subtle's official website: http://www.subtle6.com/
2) Subtle is the pseudonym of Mauricio Yepes, electronic/footwork producer from the US.
https://soundcloud.com/subtlemuzik
3) Subtle can also be the short form term used as an identifying moniker of Subtle.FM; Online Radio Station based in the UK.
Eyewash
Subtle Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Smashing soap into my hands each morning
The shower throat all belching there behind me
Bloated with my shed skin riddance
One non restroom away my blinds clench up on the California sun
Setting fire to the dust and possible day pull on my apartment and I
Has Got you thinking this,
About what you would and wouldn't do to survive
You would not dig for a fresh wet wishbone in a still kicking chickens chest
You would not dissolve small slices of unraveled arm under your tongue
You'd maybe kill the power to your hand but that's about it
Really
You know
The razor for your face can not cut kids from your male animal abdomen
You were not born The moment your stomach was finished
Your one wing plucked eyes half filled
And wild yolk like so Sliced into a since
So I ask you
Have you ever really had a hand fall off
Or found your mailman in your home
Eating one of your new poems holding a knife to your bills
Half swallow the scream you can't cut
And still keep all the juice that opened up arm
By tightened the ropes of your digital watch
You will grow no ghost to leave this angst to
And This no ghost will wear no lockett for the safe keeping of your fear
To dangle like a heart
So it may always and forever hear the gulping throats
Of all your stoping drops of blood
Like this was something beautiful,
When compared to your red skeleton
Like you say You've asked nicely for your arm back
Except
Every time the sun leaves you alone on a far curve of the planet
You think you feel the whole slung 6lb's of your cartoon heart
And all its irons tugging drugs toward it
The opening lines of "Eyewash" by Subtle immediately set the tone for the song with a sense of isolation and vulnerability. The singer reveals that the only time they are naked is when they are in their bathroom. This intimacy with oneself is juxtaposed with the showerhead "belching" its contents behind them. The singer is aware of the shedding of their skin and the waste that accompanies everyday living. The next few lines describe the singer's apartment being heated by the sun, adding to the feelings of confinement and isolation.
The following lines of the song deal with the idea of survival and the singer's thoughts about what they would and wouldn't do in extreme situations. Although the thought of survival triggers fear in the singer, they also reveal that they would not do despicable things to survive like killing an animal in a gruesome way or eating human flesh. The singer does, however, consider cutting off their own hand as a means of survival. These admissions are a reminder of the singer's humanity and that even in moments of desperation, there are limits to oneself.
The final lines of "Eyewash" discuss the idea of fear and how it can never truly be overcome. The image of "gulping throats" creates an audible sense of fear as though there is always something lurking in the darkness ready to take us by surprise. The reference to the "red skeleton" is a metaphor for the fragility of the human condition. The final few lines reveal the singer's physical and emotional attachment to their own heart. They imagine feeling its weight and iron tugging drugs towards it, reminding the listener that even in our moments of fear and uncertainty, we must keep moving forward.
Line by Line Meaning
My bathroom remains the only place I'm ever naked
I only reveal my true self when I am in the privacy of my bathroom.
Smashing soap into my hands each morning
I go through the motions of cleansing myself every day, but the actions are empty.
The shower throat all belching there behind me
The showerhead is like a monstrous mouth, emitting a painful roar behind me.
Bloated with my shed skin riddance
The shower drain collects my discarded skin, like a bloated body swollen with disease.
One non restroom away my blinds clench up on the California sun
Just one room over from my bathroom, my blinds shield me from the harsh California sun.
Setting fire to the dust and possible day pull on my apartment and I
The bright light of the sun reminds me of the mundane, cyclical nature of my existence, and ignites an unspoken fear.
A genuine fear of where all this sleeping leeds
My subconscious worries about where my dreams will take me.
Has Got you thinking this,
This fear has led me to contemplate...
About what you would and wouldn't do to survive
What actions would I deem necessary for survival?
You would not dig for a fresh wet wishbone in a still kicking chickens chest
There are ethical lines I would not cross, even for survival.
You would not dissolve small slices of unraveled arm under your tongue
There are also physical boundaries I would not cross, even in dire circumstances.
You'd maybe kill the power to your hand but that's about it
The only real self-mutilation I can fathom is that which can be achieved through numbing the senses.
The razor for your face can not cut kids from your male animal abdomen
The tools I have for grooming myself are not capable of altering the fundamental traits of my biology.
You were not born The moment your stomach was finished
My existence is not solely defined by the completion of my physical development.
Your one wing plucked eyes half filled
I am incomplete, a distorted reflection of who I was meant to be.
And wild yolk like so Sliced into a since
My essence has been brutally fragmented and rearranged into a grotesque semblance of a cohesive whole.
So I ask you
As I grapple with these existential questions...
Have you ever really had a hand fall off
Have you experienced true loss, the kind that transforms you?
Or found your mailman in your home
Have you ever been caught off-guard by a sudden and unsettling change in your environment?
Eating one of your new poems holding a knife to your bills
Have you felt violated, your most intimate thoughts and creative expressions desecrated for someone else's gain?
Half swallow the scream you can't cut
Sometimes, the pain is so intense that even screaming cannot offer relief.
And still keep all the juice that opened up arm
I must maintain my emotional vulnerability, despite the pain it causes me.
By tightened the ropes of your digital watch
I try to distract myself from the pain by focusing on mundane tasks and routine habits.
You will grow no ghost to leave this angst to
There is no easy outlet for this inner turmoil and confusion.
And This no ghost will wear no lockett for the safe keeping of your fear
There is no way to contain or compartmentalize my fear.
To dangle like a heart
Instead, the fear lingers in my mind and heart like a weight too heavy to bear.
So it may always and forever hear the gulping throats
This fear consumes me, drowning out all other sounds and thoughts.
Of all your stoping drops of blood
It is a reminder of my own mortality, the constant flow of blood that connects me to all living things.
Like this was something beautiful,
Despite its dark and unsettling nature...
When compared to your red skeleton
...my fear pales in comparison to the truth of our physical existence.
Like you say You've asked nicely for your arm back
As if my fear and pain were physical limbs that could simply be returned to me...
Except
...except it is not that simple.
Every time the sun leaves you alone on a far curve of the planet
In those moments of solitude and darkness...
You think you feel the whole slung 6lb's of your cartoon heart
...I feel the immense weight of my emotions and struggles, amplified by the sense of being lost in the vastness of the universe.
And all its irons tugging drugs toward it
I feel like a puppet, pulled toward something larger and more ominous than myself.
Lyrics © WARP MUSIC LIMITED
Written by: ALEXANDER WESLEY KORT, JORDAN DALRYMPLE, JEFFREY LOGAN, ADAM DRUCKER, DAX PIERSON, MARTON DOWERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind