Browse: Home / SONIC ROUTE: “Palaminos”, Paul McDermott

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • Flashback Comics Rack: Highlights of September 2002
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Subjectivity
  • Flashback Comics Rack: Highlights of August 2002
  • Taco Break: Pairings (by Casper)
  • Borrow or Lend Away

SONIC ROUTE: “Palaminos”, Paul McDermott

Posted By Tristan "Drunk Napoleon" Nankervis on July 15, 2019 in Features, Other Media | Leave a response

The song opens like a crash of thunder. Inbetween rolls, McDermott interjects some playful scat singing. As the first verse begins, the band seems to fade out like an echo, leaving us with him and a gentle piano. He’s bashfully admitting his feelings for his love and flattering her taste in music to convince her to spend some time with him. He uses the scat singing again – technically, to let us repeat the verse without it feeling static, but emotionally it feels like he’s trying to fill the air with noise because he’s terrified that she’ll leave in the silence. As the guitar quietly underlines the conversation, he confesses his feelings again, this time willing to list a few non-pop-culture things, like his favourite colours, and flattering her hipster levels of knowledge. He kicks into the bridge, the full band joining him – he’s laid down the groundwork and gotten a little more confident. He describes her at play, awed by her magical ability to shape reality itself with her dreams, and he assures her she’s going to achieve great things. He brings back the scat singing, gently backed by the band, a little more confident and steady. Thunder rolls again. We come back to the verse, supported by a full band for the first time. He’s casual with her now, unafraid to swear, unafraid to list everyday things that she makes more magical just with her presence, unafraid to call her something that would sound like an insult if he didn’t love her so much for it.

We come back to the bridge, and he describes their fears – the dark and scary things about life that are just around the corner – and he begs her to bring her magic and take them beyond what any ordinary person could imagine. The scat singing this time feels like an attempt to calm down and relax after something heavy, only for us to be struck by the bridge again! The band becomes something chaotic. We’re in terrifying, unsteady territory. The scat singing tries to hold onto us, but the storm keeps pounding down. McDermott reaches into himself and summons the courage to defiantly declare his love’s powers, and the music brightens up with him. He keeps rising and rising, almost impossibly, as she pulls him by the hand up to the heavens until he’s rising above the clouds themselves and then further still, until they reach the moon and hold us there for just a second. McDermott lets go. The scat singing gently guides us as we float back to the ground. McDermott uses one last confession as a full stop to the whole thing. And it’s no longer childlike bashfulness, but a simple statement of fact.

Posted in Features, Other Media | Tagged paul mcdermott, sonic route

About the Author

tristan.jay.nankervis@gmail.com'

Tristan “Drunk Napoleon” Nankervis

Related Posts

Play at 78rpm for "The Chipmunk Fight Song."Sonic Route: Getting Mad with “Haitian Fight Song” (by Miller)→

Flashback Comics Rack: Highlights of September 2002→

Flashback Comics Rack: Highlights of August 2002→

Flashback Comics Rack: Highlights of July 2002→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    31456 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    26714 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    19260 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    18986 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • Yvonne, or: CASABLANCA In One Character and Three Scenes

    10019 views / Posted August 21, 2014
  • Flashback Comics Rack: Highlights of September 2002

    August 12, 2022 / Sam "Burgundy Suit" Scott
  • Future plumbing.

    The Friday Article Roundup: Subjectivity

    August 12, 2022 / The Ploughman
  • Flashback Comics Rack: Highlights of August 2002

    August 11, 2022 / Sam "Burgundy Suit" Scott
  • Taco Break: Pairings (by Casper)

    August 11, 2022 / The Ploughman
  • Not Pictured: Giving Good Advice

    Borrow or Lend Away

    August 10, 2022 / Gillianren

Last Tweets

  • Flashback Comics Rack: Highlights of September 2002 - https://t.co/SYmfqQDmGc, 4 hours ago
  • The Friday Article Roundup: Subjectivity - https://t.co/m4jeFeUKqL, 9 hours ago
  • Flashback Comics Rack: Highlights of August 2002 - https://t.co/Mq02nC7mL5, Aug 11

©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!