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The Dread

by Crystal Thomas

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about

From album 'A Chance in Hell'

Through unhinged guitar lines and intense brooding vocals, Crystal Thomas's 'A Chance In Hell' - was launched and released on 21st April 2012, through iconic Melbourne label Off The Hip. The album; written, recorded, and co-produced with Spencer P Jones and Matt Walker, captures Crystal’s 'Australian-gothic', confessional lyrics over a dark disco pulse and rock n roll swagger, raw against the lush production of the previous offering – 2008 Stovepipe records release: ‘Crystal Thomas & the Flowers of Evil’ for which she received some great reviews:

Crystal Thomas : A Chance In Hell (album review by Patrick Emery)

"If necessity is the mother of invention, then personal crisis must be the midwife of artistic inspiration. Without embarking on anything approaching a robust statistical analysis, the overwhelming majority of great songs can be traced back to the emotional dramas of the songwriter, or a protagonist in their immediate circle; conversely, when all’s well, so too are the sharp edges lacking.

Crystal Thomas’s new record, A Chance In Hell, plays out like a cathartic journey through the good, the bad and the downright dysfunctional of the human condition. The Dread tells a sordid tale of lifestyle binges and psychological solitude; Mornings Like This suggests an event of clarity when the fog of excess lifts to reveal a dirty human reality. I Could Die Right Now is replete with chemical metaphor – or is it literal narrative? Whatever We Can Find is an emotive, and cathartic waltz across a floor littered with emotional detritus; on La Tormenta Thomas revisits the spoken-word style of her previous record, as Matt Walker and Spencer Jones provide a suitable volatile climatic sonic backdrop.

La Mort is murderous in narrative and dirty in tone; The Dry renders romantic drought in an ideal torch-song form. Patterson’s Curse is from the heart, stumbling onward like a drunk trying to escape the perpetual haze of cognitive confusion, Dragon Song is a glimpse back into early '80s Sydney pub rock seen through the eyes of a true believer in the mythology and Persimmon Textured Dreams is a collage of tabloid headline puns, self-referential hope and a wickedly enticing New York gypsy punk soundtrack.

A Chance in Hell isn’t a pretty record; the only flowers on offer are those ready for presentation at the almost inevitable moment of mortality threatened throughout the album. But life isn’t pretty – not in Crystal Thomas’s bruised hands, at least."

BY PATRICK EMERY

Best Track: Persimmon Textured Dreams
If You Like These, You'll Like This: SPENCER JONES, MARIANNE FAITHFUL
In A Word: Honest

lyrics

THE DREAD

When I came to
It felt like the coldest night on earth
Adverse reactions, drug interactions
Under a hospital blanket
An old guy coughing his guts up next door
Where am I
What happened last night?

Iv’e got a drip in the back of my hand
And it’s filling up with blood

Na nanananana ...Iv’e got the dread, in my heart & my head
Na nanananana ...Iv’e got the dread, in my heart & my head

Wrong time and place
To fall from grace, I really fell
No one’s here, by my bed.
No one’s coming to get me
The nurse has seen it all before
Reluctantly
She gets me those white pills.

Iv’e got a dripinthe back of my hand
And it’s filling up with blood

Na nanananana ...Iv’e got the dread, in my heart & my head
Na nanananana ...Iv’e got the dread, in my heart & my head

I need love
to keep me in line, Iv’e been de-railing
whenloniliness drives me, excess provides me
an escape from missing you
some strange skin in some strange room
I’m coming down, I feelso far from you

Last night I was ten feet tall
at the centre of the universe
My saccharin smile and my vacant eyes
those little pills push me out of myself
Out of reality
Out of my depth
Out of control
Out of consiousness
Iv’e been watching the world turn
Watching memories burn
I’m not turning with it
Dislocated, isolated
Do you still sense when I’m in danger?
Do you feel me
When I’m feeling you
Or are you unaware?
Is it just me thats still stuck here?

Na nanananana ...Iv’e got the dread, in my heart & my head
Na nanananana ...Iv’e got the dread, in my heart & my head
Na nanananana ...Iv’e got the dread, in my heart & my head
Na nanananana ...Iv’e got the

credits

released April 21, 2012
album credits:
released 21 April 2012
Recorded at: The 8 Track Shack & engineered by Dave Manton (except for 'La Tormenta' which was recorded & engineered by Michelle Dilevski at Static Attack)

Mixed & mastered: by Lindsay Gravina at Birdland Studios

CO-PRODUCED BY SPENCER P JONES & MATT WALKER

Musicians:
Guitars; Matt Walker, Spencer P Jones & Matt Green
Bass, double bass & synth; Tim McCormack
Drums and percussion; Phil Collings – all tracks (except ‘Persimmon Textured Dreams’ – Terry Walker and ‘La Tormenta’ – Simon Edwards)
Viola; Jason Bunn
Cello; Mikey Madden
Piano & keyboard; Matt Walker
Backing vocals; Spencer P Jones, Matt Walker, Clare Moore & Mikey Madden

Released through OFF THE HIP records

Photo for this track by Dave Johnson

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Crystal Thomas St Kilda, Australia

Who is Crystal Thomas?

Crystal has spent fifteen years in Melbourne's music scene, has written and recorded two EPs and released two studio albums.

She's collaborated with musicians including Bill Chambers, Conway Savage, Claire Moore, Matt Walker, Spencer P Jones, Mick Harvey, Tex Perkins and Don Walker.

A music project dawning takes her to new territory musically and geographically.
... more

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