The Tear Garden was formed by Edward Ka-Spel of The Legendary Pink Dots and… Read Full Bio ↴The Tear Garden was formed by Edward Ka-Spel of The Legendary Pink Dots and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy in 1985, after Key served as a sound engineer on tour in Canada for Ka-Spel. Various other "guests" from Skinny Puppy and the Pink Dots appear on future albums The band released EPs in 1985 and 1986, combined on 1987's full length, Tired Eyes Slowly Burning. Their debut was their most electronic and mixed together the psychedelic, experimental, and industrial sounds each band was known for. Later albums veer more into the space rock style of the Pink Dots. Their most recent release from 2002, Eye Spy with my Little Eye, is a collection of out-takes from the mid-80s period.

An excerpt from a Nettwerk Records press release, July 1996:
The roots of The Tear Garden extend back to 1983 when Cevin Key, on the verge of forming Skinny Puppy, struck up a trans-Atlantic correspondence with Edward Ka-Spel, the lead vocalist and driving force behind The Legendary Pink Dots. Three years later, Ka-Spel visited Vancouver for a series of three live performances with Key as sound technician, and during his visit, they recorded The Tear Garden's self-titled debut EP.
In 1987, Ka-Spel returned to open for Skinny Puppy on their North American tour, after which the duo retreated to the studio for two weeks to produce the now classic electronic-psychedelic album, Tired Eyes Slowly Burning. It was during these sessions that the project's ranks began to expand, with guest appearances by Key's fellow Puppies Dwayne Goettel and Nivek Ogre.
Four years later, the Garden bloomed again, this time growing well beyond the Key/Ka-Spel partnership to include not only Goettel, but a wide assortment of friends, including most of the Pink Dots. This fruitful month-long collaboration spawned two releases: an album called The Last Man To Fly, and a (very long) EP called Sheila Liked The Rodeo.
Another four years passed. Four years that saw literal and figurative deaths (the departure of both Skinny Puppy and LPD from their long-time labels; the subsequent break-up of SP; the tragic passing of Dwayne Goettel) and births (Edward's son, Calyxx; Download; Key's return to Nettwerk).
In late December, 1995, in the midst of this turbulence, The Tear Garden gathered once more, perhaps to attempt to trigger the dawn of a tranquil new era. The result was To Be An Angel Blind, The Crippled Soul Divide, an album of fragile and powerful beauty that digs even deeper into the psychedelic underground than its predecessors, adding a range of influences from dub bass to country slide guitar, all the while retaining the dark electronic melancholy that has become the project's signature.
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Four more years passed. Tear Garden got back together in 1999 and in 2000, Crystal Mass was released. In 2001, a "best of" collection was issued by the Russian label Brudenia, Для Тех, Ҡто Прогулялся Бьі С Богами (which translates to "For Those Who Would Walk with the Gods") as well as an "outtakes" collection released by Cevin Key's Subconscious Communications label, Eye Spy with My Little Eye.
2007 saw the release of The Secret Experiment, once again on Subconscious Communications. This is from the "Vault 2" series but features new music.

Currently, Edward and cEvin wrapped up their sessions of 13 tracks, compiled into a brand new upcoming TG release, available through Subcon.

Discography

* Tired Eyes Slowly Burning (1987)
* Last Man to Fly (1992)
* Sheila Liked The Rodeo (1993)
* Bouquet of Black Orchids (1993)
* To Be an Angel Blind, The Crippled Soul Divide (1996)
* Crystal Mass (2000)
* Eye Spy With My Little Eye (2002)
* The Secret Experiment (2007)

http://brainwashed.com/teargarden/

Tear Garden
The Tear Garden Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Our lady on the balcony in black and red
The band plays stronger
Spinning back we tread on broken glass
Our heels dig harder
I circle round inside your belt
I felt your heart race faster
Our eyes met with the eyes fixed in the sky
All seeing, knowing, probing, to the bottom of our souls

On tear garden
On tear garden
You moaned
We shivered
We cowered in the corner
We watch the arms go flying rigid
Heard them call his name again
Again
Pressed our hands to our ears
We waited for the rain
Waiting for the gentle rain to fall on tear garden

Waiting for the gentle rain to fall on tear garden
Tear garden

Overall Meaning

The Tear Garden's song "Tear Garden" is a surrealistic journey through a strange, otherworldly landscape. The lyrics describe a scene where the singer is with a woman on a balcony, watching a band play below. As the intensity of the music grows, they begin to circle around each other, caught in a dance that is both sensual and violent. The phrase "Our heels dig harder" suggests a feeling of urgency or desperation. They are both fully aware of the eyes fixed in the sky, which seem to be probing the depths of their souls. The lyrics suggest a sense of vulnerability and fear, as if they are being scrutinized and judged by something greater than themselves. The phrase "On tear garden" is repeated several times, suggesting that this surreal landscape is the Tear Garden itself, and that they are trapped in its grasp.

The lyrics take a darker turn as they describe a sense of violence and chaos breaking out. The arms of the crowd begin to flail wildly, and the singer and his companion are both terrified by the chaos around them. They cower in the corner, waiting for the rain to fall and wash away the madness. The phrase "Waiting for the gentle rain to fall on tear garden" suggests a sense of hope that the chaos and violence will be washed away by a purifying force. However, the song ends on the repeated phrase "Tear garden", suggesting that the cycle of violence and chaos will continue endlessly.

Line by Line Meaning

Our lady on the balcony in black and red
We see a woman dressed in elegant black and red clothing standing on a balcony.

The band plays stronger
The music grows more intense and powerful.

Spinning back we tread on broken glass
We walk or dance on shattered fragments of glass while spinning around.

Our heels dig harder
We push down with our heels even harder, causing them to sink into the broken glass beneath us.

I circle round inside your belt
I move around and dance closely with my partner, who has their arm around my waist.

I felt your heart race faster
I sense my partner's heart beating faster and faster as we dance and move together.

Our eyes met with the eyes fixed in the sky
We look up into the sky and our eyes meet with a fixed, unchanging gaze staring back at us.

All seeing, knowing, probing, to the bottom of our souls
This gaze seems to be all-powerful and capable of seeing deep into our very souls.

On tear garden
We are in a place or state of emotional turmoil, known as the 'tear garden.'

On tear garden
We repeat the phrase, emphasizing the intensity of our emotional state.

You moaned
One of us lets out a moan, indicating the intense feelings we are experiencing.

We shivered
Our bodies shake or tremble, possibly from fear or the coldness of our surroundings.

We cowered in the corner
We huddle together in fear, seeking safety and comfort in a corner of our tear garden surroundings.

We watch the arms go flying rigid
We observe someone in our tear garden experiencing physical reactions or spasms, causing their arms to stiffen and fly outwards.

Heard them call his name again
We hear voices calling out someone's name repeatedly, possibly the person experiencing the physical reactions.

Again
The repetition of the name being called emphasizes the distress and anxiety of the situation.

Pressed our hands to our ears
We cover our ears with our hands, possibly to block out the distressing sounds and events around us.

We waited for the rain
We anticipate and hope for a release of emotion or purifying rain to come.

Waiting for the gentle rain to fall on tear garden
We repeat our hope and expectation for the rain to fall specifically on our tear garden surroundings.

Tear garden
We repeat the name of our emotional state or surroundings, emphasizing the intensity of our experience.

Contributed by Henry B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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TRACKS