The Violet Burning - The Stor… Read Full Bio ↴Official Bio from thevioletburning.com
The Violet Burning - The Story of Our Lives:
Liebe über Alles, Black as Death and The Fantastic Machine
by Jocelyn Aucoin
It's that ache in your heart.
That place inside you where all the stuff collects and collides like junk in a drawer.
Except it's not junk. It's real and it matters and it's the matter that makes you. It’s that ache that makes you want to fight and surrender, scream and sigh. It's decaying and it's beautiful and it's full of these awkward opposites. So full that sometimes you don't understand. You can't understand.
But then someone or something comes along to give it shape, a voice. Someone whose ability to capture this space is so pure, so precise, that it springs hope within us and legs to stand on.
Something like The Violet Burning.
The Violets (affectionately called) have been making music under the direction of creative mainspring, Michael J Pritzl, since 1990. A prolific songwriter, Pritzl's story is one of endurance, endurance manifested in a plethora of albums and relentless touring throughout the US and Europe. Endurance resulting in an absolute rabid
following of fans. Though Pritzl has surrounded himself with different musicians through the years, the music has never been compromised and the fans keep coming back for the powerful, guitar-driven rock The Violets never fail to deliver. This time that rock is enlivened with the drumming virtuosity that is Lenny Beh. A stunningly emotive addition.
Nothing proves The Violets bring the rock better than their latest effort, their 9th full-length studio album, The Story of Our Lives: Liebe über Alles, Black as Death and The Fantastic Machine, an audio triptych of sorts. The album's 34 songs are divided into three parts: Liebe über Alles, Black as Death and The Fantastic Machine. Although asunder, the album rages with rock and drips with beauty, all the while shaking it's figurative fist at a digital age wherein, despite the abundance of material available, artists still feel beholden to the 10-song album format restrictions of the past.
The Violets didn't feel this restriction and because of that, The Story of Our Lives is not just an auditory experience, it is a multi-sensory aesthetic experience. These songs didn't take a week to write or two days to record. The artwork wasn't thrown together in an hour in Photoshop. This is a complete body of work that began as a spark of an idea and has now been seven years in the making. In this way, it defies the unspoken and mediocre standards of today, offering up an incredible sonic experience in addition to a riveting lyrical journey.
And the journey is a familiar one. In fact, it reads like some of the greatest novels ever written. The Fantastic Machine sets the tone for this journey as "Where It All Begins" climbs from a pensive, pretty melody to an all out blur of frantic guitars, over which "my heart and soul are wired in!" it screamed wild and breathy. It's the definition of epic, and songs like “Machine Beat Sabbatha” and “Imminent Collapse” follow suit, allowing the listener in on the chaos that's brewing in the heart of our character. “The Letting” and “Leaving” tell a quieter story, one that will course through your veins with their beautiful sadness. And in the end, our character leaves The Fantastic Machine behind, giving up on a life that has been selling him lies.
Black as Death picks up where this sadness leaves off, descending on ears like a bat out of hell--an almost mindless storm of sound and distortion. “My Name is Night” is case and point of this, heavy and teeming with Sabbath-like drumming. “Maelstorm” expands into this chaos, the entropy of its opening guitars hitting like the explosion of tides. Pritzl's delicate falsetto dancing atop the water. And then there is “Rock Is Dead”, which exists not only as the definition of pop song perfection, but shows our character gaining strength. Shivers run down your spine when he screams, "I'm going on, going on!" "In Ruin" leaves a sweet taste in our mouths with it's swirly delays, rhodes bells and sweeping cello.
Enter Liebe über Alles, The Story of Our Lives' graceful and exquisite counterpart. Our character has chosen death, but now lives to continue his journey home. A beautiful relenting, “Mon Désir” is honest in both melody and lyric as Pritzl’s broken voice sings, "All I want is you." "Arc" has a driving rhythm that climaxes with an explosion of spirited strings. "I am coming home!" The dreamy and romantic ballad, "I Caught Fire", is encased in a haze of fuzz guitar, pulsing drums and the descending piano, "…in all the songs of men and angels, if I have no love, I'm blank." And finally “through a life, blessed and cursed, love and only love goes on and on…” the true rest of “Liebe über Alles” and the final acknowledgement that our character has made it home.
This is not just another album by another band. This is a realization. A realization that this story--the struggle and the heartache, feeling lost and so alone--belongs to each one of us. It’s the way we feel when we are sad and broken and it’s the way we feel when we are so complete and content, at home and at rest within ourselves and with others and with “The Lord of Song.” It’s knowing we’re not alone in this big, messed up machine of a world. It’s the hope of “every corner of our heart and soul” being made for someone who loves us more than we will ever understand.
This is the story of our lives.
The Violet Burning is Michael J. Pritzl, Daryl Dawson and Lenny Beh. THE STORY OF OUR LIVES: Liebe über Alles, Black as Death,and TH3 FANT^5T1C MACH1N3 was written and recorded by Michael Pritzl at Nowhere, CA studios (various closets, garages, entry ways, and bedrooms in Southern California) and features Eleanor Beh on Cello and Jeff Schroeder of Smashing Pumpkins (lead guitar on 3 songs).
The Story Of Our Lives was released digitally at thevioletburning.com March 5, 2011. The triple album will be coming worldwide one part at a time via iTunes, Amazon, and other online digital resellers throughout 2011. The triple album will also be available in it’s physical, beautiful, limited edition, 80-page packaging via thevioletburning.com beginning April 4, 2011. The Violet Burning are now planning US and European tour dates.
-Jocelyn Aucoin – 2011
GOLD
The Violet Burning Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
White like snow
Give me a heart
Pure as gold
Give me a heart
White like snow
Give me a heart
You know I've been searching
High and so low
For a love so real
A love like gold
Make it
Make it gold
With the sun in your eyes
Take me to where you are
With the wind in your hands
Show me the way that you feel
Give me a heart
White like snow
Show me a heart
Pure as gold
I can't help this feeling I feel
My heart's spinning around
Turning, turning, turning
It hurts so bad
To know what I need
Take this love of gold
Put it inside
With the sun in your eyes
Take me to where you are
With the wind in your hands
Show me the way that you feel
Show me the way
Show me the way that you feel
Show me the way
Do you believe like I do?
Do you believe like I do?
Do you believe like I believe in you?
Give me a heart
White like snow
Give me a heart
Pure as gold
I climb into the heavens
I dive into the seas
Show me this place
Is it inside me?
With my heart all in pieces
Can you make it whole?
Shall I join the dance of fools
In the city of gold?
Do you, do you, do you
Do you, do you believe
Do you, do you believe in me?
Cause I don't
The Violet Burning's "Gold" is a song about the search for true love and the desire for a heart that is pure and untainted. The repeated lines "Give me a heart/White like snow/Give me a heart/Pure as gold" serve as a prayer or plea for an unblemished heart. The song is a mix of emotions, with the singer expressing a feeling of despair and frustration in their search for love, while also holding onto hope and belief in the power of love.
The chorus of the song contains lines about going to where the other person is with the sun in their eyes and wind in their hands, and asking them to show the way they feel. These lines suggest that the singer is willing to go to great lengths to find love and understand the true emotions of the other person. The line "Do you believe like I do/Do you believe like I believe in you" emphasizes the importance of mutual belief and trust in a relationship.
The bridge of the song takes a poetic turn, as the singer asks if the place they are searching for, the place where love resides, is inside them. The line "Shall I join the dance of fools/In the city of gold?" implies that the search for love can sometimes feel like a foolish endeavor, but it is still worth pursuing.
Overall, "Gold" by The Violet Burning is a heartfelt and emotional plea for pure love and an unblemished heart. It emphasizes the importance of belief and trust in relationships and encourages the listener to never give up on the search for true love.
Line by Line Meaning
Give me a heart
Asking for a new heart
White like snow
Pure and clean
Give me a heart
Requesting a fresh start
Pure as gold
Without any impurities, meant to be perfect
You know I've been searching
Expressing a deep search
High and so low
Everywhere and in anything
For a love so real
Seeking for true love
A love like gold
True love has great value, like gold
Make it
Unwilling to compromise
Make it gold
As perfect as possible
With the sun in your eyes
Follow the person who has the light of their faith shining bright
Take me to where you are
Guided by that light
With the wind in your hands
Being in control
Show me the way that you feel
It's important to be transparent in relationships
I can't help this feeling I feel
Love is uncontrollable
My heart's spinning around
Being overwhelmed by love
Turning, turning, turning
The feeling of being dizzy and lost
It hurts so bad
Emotional pain, possibly from past hurts
To know what I need
Realizing that you need something but don't have it
Take this love of gold
Expressing the desire to have true love
Put it inside
Asking for that love to fill them up
Do you believe like I do?
Faith in love
Do you believe like I do?
A desire for shared beliefs
Do you believe like I believe in you?
Believing in the value of the other person
I climb into the heavens
An abstract representation of searching
I dive into the seas
Another abstract representation of searching
Show me this place
Wanting to find the right place for oneself
Is it inside me?
Searching within oneself
With my heart all in pieces
Feeling broken and vulnerable
Can you make it whole?
Asking for support from another person to heal
Shall I join the dance of fools
Questioning whether to take risks again
In the city of gold?
Possibly a metaphor for taking another chance on love
Do you, do you, do you
Repeating the question for emphasis
Do you, do you believe
Repeating the question for emphasis
Do you, do you believe in me?
A desire for another person to believe in them
Cause I don't
Expressing doubt and insecurity
Contributed by Ruby B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Unjaded Media
Thanks for uploading this great song. But it has been over 4 years with the wrong title. This song is Gold, not Song of the Harlot. Please change the title so it is correct when shared with others.
CuChullainnRedBranch
Indeed, if you check, the song "Gold" has "Song Of The Harlot."