Cracks In The Real-Burn
When Burn begins playing, you're instantly paying attention. The production is sparse, a metronome on top of a haunting synth in one ear and a soft but deep, slow thumping bass in the other. It makes you feel out of balance, unlike most stereo sound. Then more sounds are brought in, metallic and delicate. The panning fills in the spaces, like a spider weaving its web. And you begin to see what Cracks In The Real can do with sound to create and then disrupt the reality you find yourself in. When you hear Brandon Lee's voice quoting The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, the same quote that's on his grave, you see the first crack. Like light filtering through a dome, you pay attention to the words. Nothing distracts you from it despite the production being so encompassing and unique. The ethereal and shimmering sounds of chimes hover over the synths that take their time to expand and swell. I wondered what it would be like to listen to this song with synesthesia. To stand in a crowd and feel the way the crowd moved with the sounds. The first interpolation of Burn by The Cure—from the original motion picture soundtrack of The Crow—starts in the background around a music box being winded. This is when I realised that this isn't just a single, this is an ode. Cracks In The Real succeeds in making Burn almost tangible. You feel every sound distinctly. It is a single made to wrap you in and make you see what the artist sees. To me, it felt like a successful reflection of an artist's mind.
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