Sometimes, music asks us questions, makes us think. Sometimes it provides answers, or at least the author’s take on what those answers might be. “Who Do You Belong to Now? (Great Southern Land)” is merely sonically articulating a feeling. It isn’t precise, doesn’t draw any conclusions, doesn’t claim to have any answers, doesn’t name names or align with any political cause; it is merely a cry of frustration, but one that carries a sentiment many of us will recognize as the song echoes around the world.
Running on a sort of blasted blues-rock groove, it slowly burns its way from dark understament to a shout it from the rooftops almost metal-infused anthemic. But such is the deftness of the journey that it does so naturally, incrementally, it ebbs and flows between sonic peaks and musical troughs, using each lull as a springboard to an even bigger crescendo.
It also plays with that interaction between man and machine, the sound of human imperfection and digital dexterity, subconsciously reminding us that technology was never the enemy of the more analog music world, that it is just another tool, and, used properly, in the right hands, it enhances and helps realize an artist’s sonic vision. And Paul Louis Villani is indeed the right pair of hands.
The irony here is that it is, perhaps, the dominance of machines, technology, the digital, and AI world, which are, for many, the source of some of the feeling of existential dread currently hanging over us, that Villani uses to express his own thoughts on the matter.
Perhaps this act of taking control of such technology is an example of how we fight back, how we return to feeling in control once more… not just regarding technology, but in everything we feel has slipped out of our hands. Perhaps this is how we subdue the beast. Perhaps.
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