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
Like the Sun
The Violet Burning Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Be near me tonight
Hide me in the shadow of your wings
I will call on you
For you will answer me
You shine like the sun
You are my love
My everything
Pour yourself all over me
Let it flow
Flow like rivers, flow like rivers
Open wide
The blue skies
Let it flow
Flow like rivers, flow like rivers
I will call on you
For you will rescue me
You shine like the sun
In all its strength
You are my love
My everything
You shine
like the sun in The Violet Burning's song Like the Sun, and the singer speaks directly to the object of their affection, imploring them to be present and protective. The lyrics "Hide me in the shadow of your wings" evoke a biblical metaphor, where God is often depicted as a bird with protective wings (as in Psalm 91:4), indicating the singer's desire to feel safe and nurtured within this relationship. The repetition of "I will call on you/For you will answer me" reflects the singer's unwavering belief in the reliability of their partner's support and presence.
The chorus, with its repeated declaration of the lover's shining strength, has religious overtones as well - with the image of shining like the sun, the beloved is elevated to a Christ-like or even a God-like status. The lines "You are my love/My everything" underline the importance of this person, perhaps even suggesting that the singer's sense of identity and purpose hinge on the presence of this relationship.
The second half of the song is an invitation to the beloved to "pour yourself all over me/Let it flow" and "flow like rivers". These sensual, almost erotic lines again draw on religious imagery of being "baptized" or "reborn" in the beloved's love, and suggest an intense emotional and physical connection. The final affirmation "You shine like the sun" brings the song full circle, with the singer reiterating the beloved's power and importance to them.
Line by Line Meaning
My love
The singer is addressing their beloved.
Be near me tonight
The singer is asking their beloved to stay close to them tonight.
Hide me in the shadow of your wings
The singer is asking their beloved to protect and shelter them.
I will call on you
The singer will reach out to their beloved in times of need.
For you will answer me
The singer believes that their beloved will come to their aid.
You shine like the sun
The singer is comparing their beloved to the power and radiance of the sun.
In all its strength
The singer acknowledges the overwhelming, all-encompassing nature of their beloved's love.
You are my love
The singer declares their affection for their beloved.
My everything
The singer emphasizes the importance of their beloved in their life.
Pour yourself all over me
The singer desires to be consumed by their beloved's love.
Let it flow
The singer wants the love to be freely given and received.
Flow like rivers, flow like rivers
The singer wants the love to be abundant and never-ending.
Open wide
The singer is asking for their beloved's love to be unrestrained and unrestricted.
The blue skies
The singer uses the image of the vast, open sky to convey the boundless nature of their beloved's love.
I will call on you
The singer reiterates their faith in their beloved's help.
For you will rescue me
The singer trusts in their beloved's ability to save them from harm.
You shine like the sun
The singer repeats their comparison of their beloved's love to the power of the sun.
In all its strength
The singer emphasizes the overwhelming strength of their beloved's love.
You are my love
The singer repeats their declaration of love.
My everything
The singer emphasizes once more the importance of their beloved in their life.
Contributed by Aubrey W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
mandopiano
Thanks for posting this-haven't heard this CD in years- God bless!
HeyItz_Roxy Playz
Awesome! Brings back so many great memories. Saw them at the old Calvary Chapel packing house in Redlands California
CaptainFoufeu
+Rudolpho Zepeda
Wow, that's amazing! My cousin went to that church and went to that concert and got this same album. He introduced the band to me when I visited him in 1995. I was so impressed with their music.
Damian Hager
Met these guys in person at Indiana University... helped set up a concert they gave. Was part of the Bloomington Vineyard at the time. They were really cool.
Stacey Golding
Luvs this stuff-since the 90's ^^
Ronald Larsen
MY FAV. of theirs! =DD