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Heartbreak heaven

Zita Swoon wallows in divine despair

By James Scanlon
For The Prague Post
March 7th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Even with beautiful backup singers, Carlens manages to stay terminally depressed.
Zita Swoon will not be appearing onstage at Akropolis this week, but fear not: The Belgian ensemble will be on the floor instead. There will be no need for a PA system either, as the audience will be encouraged to gather around the band right in the middle of the hall.
If it all sounds a touch bizarre, that’s because it is. According to frontman Stef Kamil Carlens, who spoke to The Prague Post from the band’s office in Antwerp, it’s all about doing away with convention in order to create the most natural and intimate setting for the Zita Swoon sound.
Carlens served his musical apprenticeship by playing bass for dEUS, a band once hailed as “the mother of all Belgian bands” for its wayward mix of Beefheart, Zappa and Pixies–inspired tunes. However, after recording three acclaimed albums, disillusionment set in and Carlens moved on. He temporarily became Moondog Jr. before adopting the moniker Zita Swoon.
Critics often struggle when it comes to categorizing the Zita Swoon sound, but retro-wave meets smoky, laid-back lounge blues will do for now. Also in the mix, there’s more than a passing nod to Tom Waits, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and even David Byrne. Some heroes are honored with cover versions such as “Raining Pleasure” by the late David McComb of the Australian band The Triffids, and “You’re A Big Girl Now” by Bob Dylan.
Of the former, Carlens says, “I didn’t get to know about The Triffids and their music until a few years ago. But then I discovered what a great, great songwriter McComb was, and what a great band it was. A friend of mine from Amsterdam organized a visual exhibition called “A Temporary Monument For Dave McComb.” I and a few friends organized a tribute band, and played 15 Triffids songs for the opening of the event. It was an amazing experience.”
Zita Swoon has been known to branch out in all sorts of curious directions. The band’s 1997 debut Music Inspired by Sunrise was actually a soundtrack to a silent movie by F.W. Murnau, and Plage Tattoo/Circumstances (2000) was a music, dance and theater piece described at the time as “an energetic fusion of the raw exhibitionistic dance style of Augustijnen and Okano and the fragmentary melancholy of Zita Swoon.”
If there’s a single narrative thread linking the Zita Swoon songs together, it’s Carlen’s overwhelming passion for women and the complex emotional entanglement of love. Consider just the titles of albums like I Paint Pictures on a Wedding Dress (1998), Life = A Sexy Sanctuary (2001) and A Song About a Girls (2004). But it’s the latest offering — Camera Concert – A Band in a Box (2005) — that exposes the most turmoil.
Some would say Carlens should just shake it off and come to terms with the grim reality that his ex-squeeze is now probably in bed with another man. But he simply can’t let go, as live cuts like “Hey You, Whatshadoing?” and “Selfish Girl” demonstrate.
Zita Swoon

When: Friday, March 9, at 7:30
Where: Palác Akropolis
Tickets: 250 Kč through Ticketpro and at the venue

“Both songs are about the same thing,” Carlens confides. “They’re about the split-up of two people. They don’t see each other anymore, and they don’t know what the other one’s doing. It’s always wondering what the other one’s doing in life,” he starts, then pauses before adding, “I was going through a complicated period at the time, and since I’m a songwriter I just can’t help writing songs about it.”
With such intense emotion on disc, it’s not difficult to imagine how caught up in the songs Carlens must get when he’s on the stage — sorry, on the floor. In Prague, he promises a rather quiet start, with songs that demand close listener attention, but with backup that includes electric and acoustic guitars, piano, accordion and the soothing vocals of two female African singers. But the music will build as the night goes on.
“It should all end in a party,” Carlens promises.
A sign, perhaps, that he’s finally getting a grip on things.

James Scanlon can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (7/03/2007):

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