Dear Donny (and anyone else who thinks like Donny),
Art is not obligated to make any sense to you in particular or the audience at large. It’s the abstract (re:”vague”) nature of art that makes it beautiful. If you want something literal, read a newspaper or take a photograph. Art serves a completely different purpose. And Stereolab certainly were not doing it for the money — anyone who knows the first thing about them know they did not like money and capitalism. Stereolab was / is a masterful band and I would not change a single thing about their work to fit some banal expectation of accessibility to the lowest common denominator.
That being said, I do not know exactly what the song is about (and that’s okay), but “trompe loeil” means “optical illusion”. Combined with the other translation, the song is about someone pretending to be something it’s not. It’s plain to everyone that the person or thing is not genuine, as it’s plainly written on the box, yet everyone is dazzled by the show regardless and like to pretend it’s real.
Dear Donny (and anyone else who thinks like Donny),
Art is not obligated to make any sense to you in particular or the audience at large. It’s the abstract (re:”vague”) nature of art that makes it beautiful. If you want something literal, read a newspaper or take a photograph. Art serves a completely different purpose. And Stereolab certainly were not doing it for the money — anyone who knows the first thing about them know they did not like money and capitalism. Stereolab was / is a masterful band and I would not change a single thing about their work to fit some banal expectation of accessibility to the lowest common denominator.
That being said, I do not know exactly what the song is about (and that’s okay), but “trompe loeil” means “optical illusion”. Combined with the other translation, the song is about someone pretending to be something it’s not. It’s plain to everyone that the person or thing is not genuine, as it’s plainly written on the box, yet everyone is dazzled by the show regardless and like to pretend it’s real.