Rebirth songs
Wash U clean (Stiff Hips Music, 2010), the new album of Beth Thornley starts in a powerful way saying goodbye to everything in her life that doesn’t stimulate her future. Here she breaks up with all that things thanks to her lyrics and her music. U got a blue feather bird in a golden swing. She sings strong pounding hard the piano and surrounded by a wind section in a hectic rhythm. Therefore, the beginning of that break up couldn’t be more seductive. From there to the subtlety in Still can’t hide where she appears fragile but also full of energy to reborn everything, absolutely everything 'cause you know what's not said will tell the tale. And so, but she sings it loud and clear in a perfect pop tune. The trajectory of her record is rich in details and here we complement it with some personal views about solitudes living together.
Are you always ok alone?
I like to be alone and then I like to visit with friends. A little of each. But I don’t need ex-boyfriends to rescue me if that’s what you’re wondering. (I think you’re referring to a lyric in a song)
Wash u clean is really powerful and you mention a very special monkey. John Lennon sang once Everybody’s got something to hide except me and my monkey. Is it your case?
The monkey in my song is used to represent a gift my ex-boyfriend thinks would make me feel better. It’s an offering from him to me to make himself feel less guilty for breaking up with me. So, no, my monkey isn’t similar to John Lennon’s monkey. Unless John Lennon would like to give me his monkey and then we can talk.
Still can’t hide is so moving. Your voice sounds as a hurt echo. We are all fugitives and refugees but from what?
From life. Life is difficult sometimes. When we hide from life, we’re fugitives. Sometimes we are displaced by life and then we are refugees. Most of us, at some point, are fugitives and refugees of life. But, eventually we all have to face things. No matter how much we try to hide, no matter how many places we go, we still can’t hide.
It seems there’s no exit for you because Everyone falls. Please, give me some hope.
Even though Everyone Falls sounds like a sad song, it is also a song about realizing we’re not alone. There is some comfort in that, yes? We share the experience of life and we should be kind to each other because we all have difficulties. As Plato said “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” I just said it a little differently in my song.
What kind of signs you need to feel you’re living a good time?
Someone once said that happiness is when you don’t notice time. I like that definition so I’ll go with that one.
Can buy me love? Or just a pony?
Neither. But I know a couple of songs that you can listen to about it.
I was talking about her song You’re so pony in comparison with The Beatles song Can’t buy me love. She asks talking about another Beatles song, Dig a pony. She once recorded a splendid cover of Beatles Eleanor Rigby.
You walk across intimate sounds and very powerful ones. Is that reflecting your own personality?
Maybe. I’m actually very quiet on the outside. But on the inside, it’s more like a rollercoaster; and then a ride in a boat on a quiet river, and then back to the rollercoaster.
Do you always listen to what your heart says?
No. I try to balance it with my brain, too. And with what other trusted people in my life might have to offer.
Someday they'll find your eyes under the stove crying for what they have been shown. Do you regret some things?
Probably no more than anyone else. But in that song, those lyrics don’t refer to my eyes. They belong to another person who regrets the past.
You sing Never your girl. First of all, I hope you will change your mind someday, but returning to the interview, is life so fragile as the thin line between here and gone you sing?
Sometimes it is that fragile. Sometimes, when you’re done with something, you’re done.
Where does your strength come from?
Chocolate and tall boots.
Now's a good time. I have to wonder is it just me? Or everybody? I think it's me. And I also believe it’s her. Sometimes it's strange how so elegant and honest proposals have no greater recognition. Beth Thornley is herself, just herself, radiating good pop, wasting energy and a voice deeply attractive always touching us slowly behind each chorus, reserving a loud and clear verse at every corner of her songs to give us the final blow. I knew already chocolate, now I'll must try the boots, to see if they are as tall as she says. For now, What the Heart Wants is to stay with her. However, I just have her songs but they’re so much...
Text by Juan Carlos Romero
Photos by Heidi Ross