La Voix des Sirènes presents : "Bastards on the go / Three years is a long whale going"
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TIMOR TIM "Bastards on the go / Three years is a long whale going"
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One year after “Saturday Night at sea”, the first part of a trilogy dedicated to English sailor songs produced by La Voix des Sirènes, Timor Tim has released the second and the third parts of that musical sea-adventure, illustrated by Anne Gieysse’s subtle drawings. The band is now a trio, whose audacious vocal performances sometimes smack of the Watersons or the Young tradition, with the addition of a female voice in the chorus. With “Bastards on the go”, Timor Tim sets off on a bloody journey on the Caribbean Sea, during which merchantmen and pirate ships ruthlessly cross swords. Other songs –where the atmosphere remains just as violent– depict sea battles between the British navy and its foes; the shadow of the French, the arch enemies of the Crown, hangs over these songs. This second part is full of gunfire and replete with the stories of fights whose heroism is picturesquely overdone, but popular musical genius conveys them with impressive creativity. In the third part, “Three years is a long whale going”– with a pun on “while” (“whale” to stress once more the omnipresence of the whale in the sailors’ minds and to refer to the long whaling expeditions, many of which could last up to three years)– the atmosphere is on the whole more laid-back and melancholy. Lovesickness is the subject of “My love is a Sailor Boy” and “Johnny’s gone to Hilo”, this time from the point of view of the women who remain waiting in the harbour. Besides these languid ballads there are lighter pieces such as “Haul Boyshaul”, “Do me Ama” and “The handsome cabin boy”, and last but not least a few shanties evoke the rough working rhythm of the sailor’s daily lives. Symbolically enough, three years is also the time it took for the band to explore that foreign repertoire. With that second album in two parts Timor Tim sets off on a new voyage full of delightful surprises. |
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