Note: There are three artists with this name.
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

Human Apologies
Sylvan Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Wastefulness - the inconvenience of our passions
Thoughtlessness - too many things we have in mind
Spitefulness - could be our hidden motivation
Or just thanklessness

Infallibility - what we claim but never can reach
Plasticity - the human wish to rule it all
Insatiability - we're the animals of greed

Fucking apologies - what the hell we're waiting for ...

Here we live! Here we lied!
Here we failed and finally here we'll die!

Ignorance which is so suitable for excuses
Negligence - we yet abused a thousand times
Short-sightedness is the blindness in our visions
Seasoned with irresponsibility

The clutch of long lost sympathy for conscience calls
And a precise emergency affects us all
Now it's an iron certainty this way must end for sure
This - with a certain irony - we still ignore

Ignoring full of competence what we don't know
We rather lost our common sense – this, time will show
And with a sad indifference we state explicitly
That we can't judge the consequence for humanity!

Times's changed ... don't we feel that? ... don't we see that?
... don't we fear that? ... we should know ...

Overall Meaning

The lyrics in Sylvan's song Human Apologies are a contemplation and criticism of human behavior, specifically regarding our wasteful, thoughtless and spiteful actions. The first verse explores the negative consequences of our passions, the multitude of things we have on our minds and the hidden motivations for our actions. The second verse delves into the fallibility of human beings, our desire to control everything and our insatiable greed. These actions are juxtaposed with the refrain of "Fucking apologies - what the hell we're waiting for," where the singer questions why we fail to apologize for our destructive behavior.

The following verse takes a more critical tone, highlighting how we often use ignorance, negligence, short-sightedness and irresponsibility as excuses for our actions. We have lost sight of our conscience and allowed ourselves to become indifferent to our impact on the world. The final verse calls for us to acknowledge the consequences of our actions and to recognize the change that needs to happen in order to prevent further destruction.

Overall, the song Human Apologies is a call for introspection and action, urging us to take responsibility for our actions and to strive towards greater empathy and understanding for the world around us.

Line by Line Meaning

Wastefulness - the inconvenience of our passions
We tend to waste resources due to our strong feelings, which can lead to inconvenience for us and others.

Thoughtlessness - too many things we have in mind
In the midst of our busy lives, we often neglect to consider the impact of our actions.

Spitefulness - could be our hidden motivation
There may be underlying bitterness or envy driving our behavior, even without us realizing it.

Or just thanklessness
Sometimes we take things for granted and fail to appreciate what we have.

Infallibility - what we claim but never can reach
We often aim for perfection, but it is impossible for humans to achieve absolute flawlessness.

Plasticity - the human wish to rule it all
We desire power and control over our surroundings, often to the point of excessive consumption and destruction.

Insatiability - we're the animals of greed
Our insatiable desire for seemingly endless material possessions reveals our animalistic need for more and more.

Fucking apologies - what the hell we're waiting for ...
We recognize our wrongs but fail to make amends or change our behavior.

Here we live! Here we lied!
We exist in a world where falsehoods and deception are often commonplace.

Here we failed and finally here we'll die!
Our society has made many mistakes and we will ultimately face the consequences of those actions.

Ignorance which is so suitable for excuses
We often hide behind our lack of knowledge or understanding to justify our actions.

Negligence - we yet abused a thousand times
We fail to take proper care or attention and continue to cause harm despite previous mistakes.

Short-sightedness is the blindness in our visions
We focus too much on the present and neglect to consider the long-term impacts of our actions.

Seasoned with irresponsibility
Our reckless choices and disregard for consequences further exacerbate the negative effects of our actions.

The clutch of long lost sympathy for conscience calls
Our empathy and concern for our conscience has dwindled over time due to numerous societal factors.

And a precise emergency affects us all
We are currently facing a crisis that affects us collectively and demands our attention and action.

Now it's an iron certainty this way must end for sure
The inevitability of the consequences of our actions has become undeniable.

This - with a certain irony - we still ignore
Despite the clear warning signs, we choose to ignore the severity of the situation.

Ignoring full of competence what we don't know
We act confidently in areas where we lack knowledge, which can lead to disastrous consequences.

We rather lost our common sense – this, time will show
Over time, our instincts for self-preservation and basic reasoning have deteriorated, putting us in greater danger.

And with a sad indifference we state explicitly
We acknowledge the severity of the situation but show a lack of concern or urgency towards addressing it.

That we can't judge the consequence for humanity!
We recognize that our actions will have long-lasting and far-reaching effects on humanity, but we fail to take responsibility for them.

Times's changed ... don't we feel that? ... don't we see that?
The world has undergone significant changes, both positive and negative, and it is high time for us to recognize and adapt to them.

... don't we fear that? ... we should know ...
We should be afraid of the consequences of our actions and we must take steps to educate ourselves and change our ways before it's too late.

Contributed by Reagan O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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