Lonely London Lad: Behind the Scenes: "Buffalo Jump"
CD available exclusively here.
The lyrics are as sparse as water in the desert.
The drums sound like one of those old-fashioned oil well pumps, at a gallop.
The chorus invokes the cries of warriors, haunted souls, and howling wolves.
The lonesome guitar channels Spaghetti Westerns and Dick Dale.
Welcome to the Wild West of "Buffalo Jump".
What is it about? Whatever you want it to be. For me, personally, it has two primary meanings.
On the surface, it is about North American Indians. A 'buffalo jump' is a cliff where herded bison would be driven off en masse, and tribe members waiting below would, ehem, finish them off. I saw this methodical extermination as analogous to what happened to the Indians themselves at the hands of the European settlers. In this sense, "there is no sound" is about the lack of sound, or life, after these events.
On another level, it is about love and, more broadly, about human relations:
Lately there seems to be
A desert inside of me
Dryness and heat abound
In the desert there is no sound
Many people one comes into contact with in life are similar to deserts. You can pour all the water (love) you have into them, but nothing will ever grow from it. Some people spend their lives trying to tend gardens in the desert, while others, in a healthier way, seek greener pastures.
In the music video, made in my living room, I chose not to face the camera as a way to keep the viewer's focus on the images and subject matter instead of on me. I used a sepia tone on all the layers to simulate both the colors of the desert and of Curtis' photogravure plates.
As the song progresses to its climax, we tried to simulate a sonic stampede before it, too, goes over the edge of the cliff at its end, into silence.
Interestingly, the version of the song used for the music video was a rough mix. The album version is superior in that it is mixed, and mastered.
"Buffalo Jump" is one of 25 songs on our double-CD debut, containing nearly two and a half hours of original LLL music. Buy it today and enjoy FREE shipping, worldwide.
