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.
Silence...
Subtle Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Meeting gears clumsily detaching a man's hand in the dust crunching machine of an aspirin factory shift
Adding their glued open eyes to
The good Reverend Pitman's hard to find bird head collection
Then the dream trails off into long drawn out conversations
Set in sickly lit hospital halls and over cleared tables
And what the headache folks are willing to give up
In order to endure that today is the day that no one went bald
Today is the day that no one went bald
Today is the day that no one went bald
That today is
There's a brief intermission
They offer you money for love and a popular song
A license to pill and spare no expense
In the supper with big Dr. Moon and Gun
The dream ends in an extended stay America kitchen
You're beating eggs, you look down for the wisk
You see a sealed off wrist on repeat
Completely destroying the snow globe
And a day begins before and during next
Between space heaters and constellations
And again from the bed with the boy
In the absence of an absolute aspirin
There watching you through your bedroom window
A winter bee slurs its legs on a half snipped
Sprig of barbed wire while you imagine
Page five gallons pouring pink into the center of clouds
Or you or the other way around
The lyrics of Subtle's "Silence" are dreamlike and impressionistic, leaving a lot of room for interpretation. The song seems to be about the strange and disjointed nature of dreams, and how they can shift rapidly from one image to another. The first verse sets the tone by describing "the silence between radiators and constellations," which is a surreal and evocative image. The next line describes a gruesome industrial accident, in which a man's hand is detached by a "dust crunching machine." These two images don't seem to have much connection to each other, which is in keeping with the non-linear structure of dreams.
The song goes on to describe other dreamlike scenarios, such as a conversation about worker's compensation in a sickly-lit hospital hall and a bizarre encounter with a Dr. Moon and Gun during a supper. The lyrics also make reference to various forms of medication, including aspirin and pills, perhaps suggesting a sense of unease or discomfort. The final verse is perhaps the most mysterious, describing a scene in which a winter bee slurs its legs on a half-snipped sprig of barbed wire, while pink liquid pours into the center of clouds. The overall effect of the song is haunting and surreal, with its disorienting images and shifting perspectives.
Line by Line Meaning
The silence between radiators and constellations takes place some three odd dreams before a vacation
The quietness that sits between two objects unrelated in space and time happens in a series of recurring dreams leading up to time away from work.
Meeting gears clumsily detaching a man's hand in the dust crunching machine of an aspirin factory shift
A situation where gears collide and rip a man's hand off in a factory where they make powdered medicine.
Adding their glued open eyes to
The good Reverend Pitman's hard to find bird head collection
With eyes still wide open, the people become part of the Reverend's rare bird head exhibit.
Then the dream trails off into long drawn out conversations
Set in sickly lit hospital halls and over cleared tables
In office space about Workers Comp
And what the headache folks are willing to give up
The dream gradually transitions into lengthy discussions held in dimly-lit medical facilities and offices, covering topics such as insurance claims for workplace-related injuries and the sacrifices people are willing to make for their own health.
In order to endure that today is the day that no one went bald
Today is the day that no one went bald
Today is the day that no one went bald
That today is
The hope and desire that, for today, everyone can avoid losing their hair due to illness or some other cause.
There's a brief intermission
The dream pauses momentarily.
They offer you money for love and a popular song
A license to pill and spare no expense
In the supper with big Dr. Moon and Gun
A promise of money, music, and drugs, all while dining with an important person named Dr. Moon and his associate Gun.
The dream ends in an extended stay America kitchen
You're beating eggs, you look down for the wisk
You see a sealed off wrist on repeat
The dream concludes in a kitchen in a hotel intended for long-term stays, where you see a wrist that appears to be sealed off from the rest of the body.
Completely destroying the snow globe
And a day begins before and during next
Between space heaters and constellations
The snow globe is shattered into small pieces, setting a new day in motion that begins before and continues on into the following day, taking place among heaters and stars in the sky.
And again from the bed with the boy
In the absence of an absolute aspirin
There watching you through your bedroom window
A winter bee slurs its legs on a half snipped
Sprig of barbed wire while you imagine
Page five gallons pouring pink into the center of clouds
Or you or the other way around
Once more, the dreamer finds themselves on a bed with a boy, lacking any effective headache medication. Through the window, they see a winter bee struggling on a half-cut barbed wire, as they envision an improbable scenario of five gallons of pink liquid poured into the center of the clouds, or vice versa.
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind