As the season shifts to tales of vampires, witches, ghosts, and ghouls, we bring you our latest effort thrown overboard from our ship of fools...
THIS MAD DESIRE | FLAMING DOVES (Official Animated Video) is now on youtube.
ABOUT THE SONG
Appears on OPEN HEARTS OPEN MINDS released 2022.
Written and Produced by Mackenzie Kristjon.
Live drum elements by Dan Konopka (OK Go).
Clearly I'm releasing this video now as Halloween is approaching and the lyrics talk about vampires and wolves and other scary imagery. I wrote the lyrics and the song during the pandemic and recorded it as part of my OPEN HEARTS OPEN MINDS collection.
The first lines are "Oceans are rising, COVID's taking a friend; the man standing at the corner holds a sign that proclaims the end."
I was trying to reflect the sense of panic, loneliness, and desolation so many of us felt being alienated from each other during those times. It was hard on everyone. I stole / took inspiration in the second verse from Charles Baudelaire and his Flowers of Evil poetry. Those poems were famous for celebrating the grotesque at a time when romanticism flourished. Finally poetry that exposed darkness!
At some point, they said the pandemic was going to last at least another three months so I rented some equipment to record the OPEN HEARTS OPEN MINDS album and started to work remotely with artists around the world (mostly singers) but also with Dan Konopka from OK Go who was still living in Los Angeles.
While working on FLAMING DOVES, I realized it was the same BPM (beats per minute - music lingo) as STORM THE COUNTRYSIDE for which Dan had just submitted drum parts. I wound up sampling some of his fills from STORM to layer over the electronic drum loop I used on FLAMING DOVES. Re-contextualized, they sounded amazing!
I'm actually quite proud of my guitar work on this one and hope you enjoy it.
Oceans are rising, COVID’s taking a friend And the man shouting at the corner Holds a sign that proclaims the end
I wrote you a letter that I knew I’d never send. Dream to end confusion, a love that never ends
The vampires and the flaming doves A thousand different kinds of love She said she came from the Lord above To burn their cars and drink their blood Fire always comes before the flood
The wolf followed me home last night Snarling and scratching at my door I camped out on the rooftop I don’t feel safe here anymore
These psychotic invocations are not your answered prayers The wolf that chased you home still howls beneath the stairs
The vampires and the flaming doves A thousand different kinds of love She said she came from the Lord above To burn their cars and drink their blood Fire always comes before the flood
Champagne-swilling bleeding hearts Never realize this is how it starts Politicians and their boys that all play cops Are they the wolves that time forgot? Forgot
Oceans are rising, COVID’s taking a friend And the man shouting at the corner Holds a sign that proclaims the end
I wrote you a letter that I knew I’d never send. Dream to end confusion, a love that never ends
The vampires and the flaming doves A thousand different kinds of love She said she came from the Lord above To burn their cars and drink their blood Fire always comes before the flood
Over the mountain and through the air They will feel as though we are no longer there With your raygun eyes and purple dreams We will take their prisoners and we will set them free
