Description
Label Review.
2020 album. Also available on Vinyl.
Our Overview.
Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield releases his second solo album ‘Even In Exile’. Using the lyrics of Patrick Jones (James’ bandmate Nicky Wire’s brother) it is inspired by the story of Victor Jara, the Chilean poet-singer-activist who was tortured and killed during the early days of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. An ultra-vivid eulogy to a brilliant life cut short, ‘Even In Exile’ is a beautiful collection of songs that loosely traces Victor Jara’s story - at points pure and biographical, at others dreamlike and opaque, Bradfield sets Jones’ words written specifically for the project to some of the most addictive and affecting melodies he’s ever composed.
James says “I’d known about him all my life. I knew the story, the tragedy, the political history – but I never really knew much about Victor Jara’s music. When I started listening to it two years ago, I was just stunned that his music could have such a tender and beautiful heart. There’s such a spirit of reconciliation in his protest music and I’d never heard that before. Protest music is usually quite confrontational. That led me on to make a record trying to reach and communicate with other people – not to just confront. I’m glad that in this day and age, I chose to write about someone like Victor – a person that wanted people to be together rather than apart.”
Tracklisting: Recuerda / The Boy From The Plantation / There’ll Come A War / Seeking The Room With The Three Windows / Thirty Thousand Milk Bottles / Under The Mimosa Tree / From The Hands Of Violeta / Without Knowing The End (Joan’s Song) / La Partida / The Last Song / Santiago Sunrise