Grey Lenses – Perfect Conditions (2015)

 Despite the fact it’s rather hard to review my own records, I’ll try to write about my recent EP “Perfect Conditions”.

I picked the name “Grey Lenses” in 2008 for a band we planned to form with my mate, we were inspired by Iggy Pop, PIL, Joy Division and wanted to play something similar, but there was a problem: we lived in a quite small town, Internet was relatively expensive back then, so almost nobody who was rehearsing in garages didn’t know these bands, everybody played pop-punk and metalcore, so we simply couldn’t persuade anyone to play something different, and our enthusiasm had grown thin, though I had a notebook full of lyrics.

So, I was left alone at some moment and “Grey Lenses” became only my pseudonym, I tried to record stuff using this moniker in 2008, but I wasn’t satisfied with the result, so I didn’t even show most of these songs to most of my friends.

After that, I was involved in various creative activities, but I didn’t release any serious songs as “Grey Lenses” until this year. If you read one of my previous posts, you might know I participated in a project named “Acid Socks”, but it was put on hiatus, and I had to go on working alone. I started to work on this EP in 2014 and released it in early 2015. It can be extremely cold in a town I live in, so I tried to make this EP as cold as possible, and some listeners told me I managed to create such sound.

I found the title “Perfect Conditions” in the Bible, I really liked this quote:

“If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done” (Ecc 11:4)

Sorry for a personal detail, but I’m a very melancholic man, so I often need to be encouraged, and this quote encouraged me, I realized I can’t wait anymore, it’s time to act now!

And I recorded this EP. “Perfect Conditions” can be described as lo-fi minimal synth with low range vocals, although some purists said it’s not “proper” minimal synth – well, ok, I actually wanted to create original sound with more ambience and “cinematic” feeling of suspense, and I hope I succeeded :)

“The Follower”, the title track, is about the fear of being trapped by idols I created, the fear of committing a poseur suicide like some crazy fans did.

“Got rid from the dreary visions,

Woke up right at 5 AM

You acted with great precision

The ritual has turned to slam.

Can you prevent me from following you?

I am afraid I’ll end up just like you”

And from the “relationships” with dead poets, idols, EP moves to relationship with mates (“The Teammate”) which portrays a figure of helpless outsider “waiting for a guide”, like one of my “idols” said:

“Help me to pass this test:

I am tired to be the last

Apathy I had to face

Is covered with layers of rust”

The third song, “My Goal Can’t Be Reached”, is about a dull evening in a small town, where “there’s nothing to do”, nothing can be done, nothing can be changed, etc.:

“I have to spit on my own grave;

Something has faded from my field of view.

My goal can’t be reached,

And there’s nothing to do”

And yeah, “the sly man” is the same sly man which was mentioned by Blue Orchids in their awesome “Low Profile” song, I think you know it’s from Gurdgieff’s works.

The final track – “Artificial Crimes” – is an insomniac cry of despair, cry of fear of infernal visions in Ivan Karamazov’s manner, and also an insight that “things must change” mixed with the feeling of shame / regret for not having any faith:

“I feel like I’m disabled in some spiritual way

I’ve lived in a hurry, so thirsty for time,

And now the time has come for these few crucial days:

It’s time to stop suffering from artificial crimes”

The title, “Artificial Crimes”, was inspired by a work by Russian philosopher Lev Shestov (Camus mentioned him in his famous essay), who, if I’m correct (I forgot the certain quote), wrote something like: “What if Raskolnikov didn’t commit his crime, what if his crime was artificial?”, and I thought: it’s such a similar situation, I know I didn’t commit any crime, but I’m treated like if I did.

Well, enough talking, just listen to this EP!


 

Or check out SoundCloud or YouTube playlist of "Perfect Conditions"

Sincerely yours,

John “Grey Lenses” Grey