Any song that begins with the lines “Charlie’s got a gun” is a story that you instantly want to know more about. It’s pretty compelling as openings go, like a great first scene to a movie or that killer (pun intended) first line of your favourite book. Like a movie or a book, it raises a brilliant question about the story being told here. As iconic filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock explained: If you place a bomb under a table in the first scene, it opens up the possibility of two types of story. If the bomb doesn’t go off, you have film based around suspense; if it does, you are making an action movie. And the same potential is created here. Will Charlie use the gun?
But “Charlie’s Story” is more than mere entertainment, action or suspense; it is a serious look at issues surrounding depression, desperation, self-harm and the broader effect of these issues on relationships, loved ones and dependants. It’s a song of love and loathing, longing and loss, and life taking the darkest turns. A timeless tale that is increasingly relevant for the age we live in. Sadly.
Rock music, as Madame Psychosis effortlessly proves here, is exactly the right medium to frame such ideas in an art form. Perhaps only in the rock format can you find the necessary brooding lows, the sonic highs, the anthemics and artistry, the weight and deftness to do such a theme justice—well, at least if it is in the right hands.
Madame Psychosis are indeed the right hands.
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