A great track. Go to Mogwai's webpage to see the twisted animated video for the song (man dropping pets off a building...)
For those who are baffled by the voice singing, it's a vocoder. One of the band members (presumably Stuart) sings into a microphone which is plugged into this device. An instrument is also plugged into it (presumably a guitar judging by the smoothness of the changes) and the notes from the guitar are imposed onto the voice and it comes out sounding like a computer/robot/alien singing. It's a beautiful effect and furthermore leaves the lyrics open to some interesting interpretation.
I met a guy convinced that, during the chorus bit, it sings: 'Under neon lights, there for the birds'
I can kind of hear what he's talking about!
If you can get hold of the Peel session version of this (which opens the Government Commisions album) then do because I prefer it a lot more than the album version.
A great track. Go to Mogwai's webpage to see the twisted animated video for the song (man dropping pets off a building...) For those who are baffled by the voice singing, it's a vocoder. One of the band members (presumably Stuart) sings into a microphone which is plugged into this device. An instrument is also plugged into it (presumably a guitar judging by the smoothness of the changes) and the notes from the guitar are imposed onto the voice and it comes out sounding like a computer/robot/alien singing. It's a beautiful effect and furthermore leaves the lyrics open to some interesting interpretation. I met a guy convinced that, during the chorus bit, it sings: 'Under neon lights, there for the birds' I can kind of hear what he's talking about! If you can get hold of the Peel session version of this (which opens the Government Commisions album) then do because I prefer it a lot more than the album version.