1. Prog Rock, German band<… Read Full Bio ↴Note: There are three artists with this name.
1. Prog Rock, German band
2. 60's female pop singer.
3. Low-Fi Dublin Band
1.
In the spring of 1990, Kay Söhl, the two keyboarders Volker Söhl and Matthias Harder, founded the band TEMPORAL TEMPTATION. By that summer the band had already played its first gig - the first live performance of the core founding members of the band. In a way it was also Sylvan's birth. At this time the band played hard rock music and sang in German. Only a small part of their music was progressive rock.
In Autumn 1990, the band changed its name to CHAMELEON, a symbol of changeability, representing the long instrumental parts in their music. The cover artwork had a likeness to early MARILLION covers and has never been issued. In summer 1991 Marko Heisig joined Chameleon as the lead singer and bassist. Between 1992 and 1994 the band had a gloomy and aggressive tonality to them and in this they were very different from the more rocky sounds of the previous years. In 1992 the first official demo tape of Chameleon was released. With Matthias Koops as lead singer, the second official demo tape was recorded. The title was 'Slaves' and its tracklist was 'Time', 'Slaves', 'Mirror of a Lifetime' and 'Childhood Dreams'. (By the way, 'Slaves' was the old title of a version of today's song 'Deliverance' after which Sylvan's first album was named!).
In winter 1995 one of the band's dreams was fulfilled: Marco Glühmann, an old friend who played many years before with Chameleon, joined the band. Within the same year the third and last official demo tape was recorded. The tracklist was 'Beren and Luthien', 'Golden Cage' and 'Outro'. All of these songs have merged into Sylvan's first studio album in one way or another.
In 1997 the last live concert took place under the name Chameleon. Marko Heisig left the band and the bass was taken over by Patrick Münster. The band changed its name to Sylvan. Their first cd was recorded in 1998 and the second was released in 2000. (Adapted from text on the official history website). The music of the band is progressive rock with some hard rock moments, and some spacey melodic pop-rock elements, probably lingering from earlier in their career. Also there are some Art-prog elements, but really not enough to call this music Art-rock as such. Other apparent influences include psychedelic rock, a little PINK FLOYD in the spacey elements, and surely MARILLION and GENESIS.
2. 60's female pop singer. In 2006 her record "We Don't Belong" first recorded in 1965, was featured on a Rhino Records compilation set "The Hatbox collection" "Girl Groups Lost and Found" which gained two Grammy Award nominations in January 2007. Now a successful photographer living in London. www.sylvanmason.com In 1965 Sylvan became the first and only Stowaway on Radio Caroline's Mi Amigo Pirate Ship. She spent the weekend with Tony Blackburn, Roger Gale and Mike Allen promoting her record "We Don't Belong" which had recently been banned by the BBC; helping the dj's with their quiz shows and making jingles whilst the headlines in newspapers screamed "Beautiful blonde Marooned with 15 men". Unlike the new film "The Boat That Rocked" which is based on Radio Caroline, it was cold, uncomfortable and a bit smelly says Sylvan but the boys were very sweet and well behaved.
3. Irish band Sylvan are a five-piece low-fi Dublin-based group, originally formed in 2000 by band members Colin Russell-Conway (drums), Paul Clynes (vox & lead guitar), and Adam McCormack (vox & guitar). Adam left the group in 2004, to move to Denmark and is now recording & gigging with his new band, Imagine I Had Hands. At this point Kieron (Beardy) joined the band to replace Adam on vox & guitar. And Fergus Russell-Conway was also recruited to join the band on bass & backing vox. The band have released 3 full-length albums to date. Their first album "The Ugly Lemon" was recorded in Chicago with Steve Albini in 2003. They then recorded their second album My Marble Eye themselves in Dublin in January 2005. Sylvan have just released their third album "We Are Lying to you through song" in September 2007, and are currently touring this album in Ireland and Europe. http://www.myspace.com/sylvan1
Belated Gift
Sylvan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pictures spinning speechless in my head
Incomprehensibly meaningless
Questions in my mind
Without a notice, a sign, a scene - is it all?
Nothing to say that I waited for
Senseless, untold - wasn't there much more?
I'll give you wings to cry, to search for me and fly
Just where I went thru, that's my gift for you
And now I capture crippled figures with my eyes
Leaving all our good times far behind
Kissing all those precious hopes goodbye
Questions in my mind
I run away...
The lyrics of Sylvan's song "Belated Gift" convey a sense of confusion and frustration. The singer is struggling to understand something, represented by the "colors driving me so mad" and "pictures spinning speechless in my head." They are grappling with a series of questions that feel incomprehensibly meaningless, with no clear answers or explanations. There is a sense of waiting for something, a "notice, a sign, a scene," but nothing seems to come. The result is a feeling of being untethered, unsure of what direction to take, and ultimately choosing to "run away."
The chorus of the song offers a potential solution to this confusion. The singer offers to "give you wings to cry, to search for me and fly." It's unclear who this "you" is, but the implication is that by following the singer's path, they will find some sort of clarity or resolution. The singer seems to have a sense of where they are headed, and they are offering this knowledge as a gift to this unnamed other person. However, there is a sense of finality to the proceedings. The "crippled figures" and "precious hopes" that are left behind as the singer runs away suggest that there is no going back, that a deeper understanding has been reached, and that there is no possibility of returning to the way things were.
Overall, "Belated Gift" is a complex and somewhat enigmatic song that speaks to the difficulty of finding meaning and direction in the face of confusion and uncertainty. The singer's offer to provide clarity to another person is potentially hopeful, but the final lines of the song suggest a sense of loss and finality.
Line by Line Meaning
I cannot get it - colors driving me so mad
The vivid and confusing imagery in my mind is overwhelming and causing me distress
Pictures spinning speechless in my head
The mental images I have are so chaotic that they leave me without words
Incomprehensibly meaningless
The things I'm experiencing lack any clear meaning or significance
Questions in my mind
I am left with many unanswered questions and uncertainties
Without a notice, a sign, a scene - is it all?
I am questioning whether everything that has happened to me was completely unexpected and unexplained
Nothing to say that I waited for
I had no expectation or anticipation for this situation
Senseless, untold - wasn't there much more?
This experience seems pointless and unexplained, and I lament the possibility of a more meaningful outcome
Questions in my mind
My mind is filled with unanswered questions and doubts
I'll give you wings to cry, to search for me and fly
I will help you explore your emotions and seek me out
Just where I went thru, that's my gift for you
My experience and my journey can be a gift to you
And now I capture crippled figures with my eyes
I am fixated on images of people who are vulnerable, broken, and defeated
Leaving all our good times far behind
I am ready to let go of the happy memories and moments we shared
Kissing all those precious hopes goodbye
I am saying farewell to all the positive expectations and aspirations I had for the future
Questions in my mind
My mind is still filled with unresolved questions and doubts
I run away...
My response to these overwhelming feelings is to escape and avoid them
Contributed by Maria Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.