Compli-intricated Life is Michael Dyer's fourth CD -- a very welcome and anticipated addition to his growing collection of rock, folk-rock and soft-rock songs about love and relationships. This singer/song-writer has again outdone himself -- composing, producing and performing twelve songs that are sure to draw in and enchant any listener. In addition to being complex, rich, subtle, and evocative, each song has a unique musical or lyrical feature. For example, the lyrics in "Under The Microscope" contrast the normal macroscopic world of physical attraction with the microscopic world (of mites and germs). At the macro level: " Her pierced tongue and ears mingle passion with fears. Her full breasts and lips electrify fingertips ..." while at the micro level: " Eyelash mites do bite. What a sight ... spores germinate, microbes grow and mate." In this song, Michael Dyer plays bottleneck guitar -- sliding up/down the neck as the lyrics shift between macro and micro perspectives.
"Alphabet Soup Love" is lyrically rather clever and musically quite beautiful. As the singer looks at a soup of letters, each one reminds him of a betrayal by his love ("When letter 'Q' questions the 'U' about cheating with 'H', 'I', 'M, There's nothing to do. ... "). The song is also philosophical in tone: "What are we but letters, floating in a soup? That twist and swirl, splash and loop, back on ourselves, then back on our shelves. What came to be of the letters: 'L', 'O', 'V', 'E'?"
The song "Makin' No Sense" contains, scattered throughout it, phrases that are a modified version of Pig Latin (!) as when Dyer sings: "Oh, when you say: 'Ees-plo ake-mo ee-mo eggnant-pro.' I don’t know. Don’t understand, but it sounds way outta hand." I enjoyed figuring out the meaning of these phrases.
"Too Fast So S-l-o-w" is about a lover who wants to move the relationship with his love faster than she does ("I want to race-for-the-prize, while she wants to just watch the sun rise. I want to leap-to-love-her, while she wants to just float and hover"). Musically, the song alternates between slow and fast tempos (with very fast lead guitar played during fast sections). In this way the music fits and supports the lyrics very effectively.
In "Compli-intricated Life" Dyer sings: "My obsessive mind is just so compuls-inebriated, even my dreams are roco-co-llated". The music contains a complex, syncopated pick, along with interspersed, rapidly played grace notes (that fit in with the complexity of life that the lyrics are complaining about). He asks his love to take a vacation with him – expressed so whimsically: "We need a break, but together. How about Waikiki? We need an escape from every clock and key."
"Ethereal Night" is a narrative song. It tells the story of a camper awakening at night and realizing that both his love and his best friend are missing. The lyrics are full of tension and suspense: "Ethereal night, your jagged cliffs climb to such a height. And I see bare forms in black and white. Ethereal night, I feel weak and faint. My sight is blurred. My chest is tight." Once he discovers their betrayal, he sings: "Ethereal night, your dark breath blows black leaves around, and your dark, dark grass now holds, a lust-stained ground. And I want to leap, into your deep abyss, never to be found." The music itself is both dramatic and haunting.
In "Love's Algebra" Dyer plays lead riffs using a keyboard with very effective use of synthesized sounds (in the other songs the lead is mainly electric guitar). The lyrics are humorous and light-hearted. He asks whether love is transitive, reflexive, symmetric, distributive, etc. Again, the lyrics are quite clever: "Too bad love’s just not reflexive. That’s can be ever so vexive! My loving her won’t make her love me. Too bad there’s no reciprocity." ... "What’s love taken to a higher power? Love to that degree is love by the hour." I especially like the line about the compositionality of love: "Love can be composed right under your nose. You hate lovin’ her. She loves hating you."
I think you will really like the sound of the Irish Bouzouki (as a lead instrument) in Dyer's most romantic song, "Doesn't Matter", in which nothing can stop a lover from finding his love – not even death or hell: "Doesn't matter if you're crippled or well. Doesn't even matter if you're in heaven or hell. 'Cause I'm coming to inhale, the loving you exhale." The lyrics and music are both beautiful. An example in the lyrics is: "When deep whales slip past hovering sails and moonlight snails leave gossamer trails."
"Earthsong II" is also a love song, but in this case it is about love of the Earth. I think it is one of the better songs about the Earth ever composed (easily on par with Dyer's original "EarthSong" on his first CD: Nothing Seems Like What It Seems). EarthSong II is as much about contamination of the environment ("With spider genes in food, what brew is being brewed?" ... "Our estrogenic plates, will men emasculate") as about global warming ("All oceans on the rise, small islands their first prize").
Anyone who acquires this CD is in for a very special musical, vocal and lyrical experience.
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