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"Well" is the story of a man with something to hide. It sounds like a body. Possibly little Timmy's body. Hence, the darkness. The song's narrator paints a clear picture of his calculated journey to a Well down the path by Crystal Lake to dump a body. However, let me not simplify thing too much ... "Bottom of a Well", between Sahib's deep, scratchy vocals, the slowly-paced (and decently arranged) backing keyboards and the spooky background harmonies, is a vastly visual piece. In fact, it's for this that I would compare him to Waits and Leonard Cohen (the old Leonard, not the younger version) -- Waits and Cohen have always been deeply visual writers; weaving stories (usually dark stories) thick with imagery and leaving their traces all over your psyche. And aside from its disturbing story and dark overtones, "Well" is an easy song to listen to. Well put together, great instrumentation, and a good tone. It's also really short (2:36 total). I kind of felt the length worked for this song; it kept things simple and the story precise.
However, the lyrics themselves really could do more, I thought. Very, very simple lyrics and rhyming patterns. There are also some harmony/backing effects near the end that, although nicely chaotic and giving off the psychotic vibe of "many voices speaking at once" or "speaking into a Well", I really feel like this could have been done a bit cleaner. The effect itself seems more like a factory-shipped digital effect than something really worthy of this song. These two things really knocked off a few "points" for me. And though the tone and the telling was perfect, to be fair I really don't think the story was that original. And for that matter -- Waitaminut -- this guy wrote a song about knocking somebody off and throwing them into well.
Sahib Radio's "Bottom of a Well" is a flawless tune. With it's awesome imagery and cool tones, I'd recommend anyone who's into songs about vastly misunderstood loners doing things that are none of my business download "Well" at your earliest convenience from Sahib's awesome Funender page. I gotta' go.
Stone Bayliss
(address withheld)
BandFreaks Staff Reviewer |
