Forget everything you know about Jean-Paul Sartre. The discovery of existentialism. He turned down the Nobel Prize because “a writer should not be an institution.” The destruction of conformity even. Simply, a man captured by the Nazis.
Imagine being ushered into a room. A quaint small space. Not necessarily inviting. Nor a prison cell. Paintings decorate the wall. However, there is no bed. You are guided to this space by a valet who is strangely emotionless but acquiescent. There is a switch on the wall. The valet says “It only works sometimes.” You press it, it rings immediately.
The lights above can be turned off, but only by “management.” The valet remembers that they have never been cut off to his recollection—a “paper knife” but no books. Nothing to do but walk around, take a seat, and think.
Sartre seems to be asking us “Why are we so consumed in thought about life until we only have our own to consider?” Since the pandemic, surveys show as many as 36 percent of all Americans suffer some chronic loneliness. The numbers are unbelievably high in young adults (61%) and mothers with small children (51%). This is not solitude. This is the first step toward depression and anxiety.
The quiet cannot stop the chattering inner voice. The constant holding pattern of this living situation can only manipulate the images on the wall or the art around you for so long before you succumb to basking in memories. But with the aforementioned pair circling you, you even mistrust and doubt some of those. At the moment when the worst memory of your life reappears through sleep deprivation or just general desperation - there is relief. The door opens and you receive a roommate.
The other person enters the room expecting someone else. The other person then expects that you are the torturer. Why? Because you are afraid. In addition, now there is no way to gaze at one's self, so we must look at the other person. Now the decision must be made internally, how to discover more about this other person. By nature, we want to be accepted. We also will do anything to defend ourselves. Can we suppress those feelings of depression and anxiety (that likely make us appear threatening) to welcome this person into our weird new existence?
Our history indicates that those who found the method of traveling in groups survived. To be completely alone stunted psychological growth. We need interpersonal communication to make ourselves feel comfortable and make others like us, to increase that comfort. On the surface in our small space, we need acceptance from this other person for our comfort. We also need them for compliance and support.
In this situation, the other person does not trust you. They are very guarded as you are a new stimulus and this small space does not feel like theirs. So they counter what you say. You say, “Let's at least be courteous to each other.” They have no interest in courtesy or civility. The smallest microexpression between the two of you can be easily misread. So, at the moment you finally break the ice, the door opens and now a third person is thrust into the small space.
At this point, we are only aware of the situation. To break down the events (or really non-events) is to see the structure of Absurdist Theatre. In Pinter's “The Homecoming” (as we discussed), all the events happen in the same room largely for convenience. However, it is a large space (and an empty space as well). The pieces between the dialogue tell us the backstory of the characters we do not really know - yet they have a long, varied history together. Its structure is mostly based on the hierarchy of the family. Roles are colored in by dialogue, but even those can be deceptive. Take Pinter's 1974's play “No Man's Land.” Here you have three characters who claim to care about the doddering old man. However, you cannot tell who truly cares or who truly cares about continuing to leech off of him.
This ambiguity is the space between in Sartre's “No Exit.” Without revealing any details about the three characters in one small space, we know they must form relationships for survival (also similar to Beckett's “Waiting For Godot”) and yet they must be the individual that influences the behavior of the other two. Where “The Dumb Waiter” has a central premise: two men are thrown together to accomplish a task, “No Exit” is a purely psychological drama. It seems so simple on its surface, and became such a trope thanks to people trapped in elevators, buses, cars, ships, and even Alfred Hitchcock's “Lifeboat” released the same year.
This structure is the fundamental level of understanding of Absurdism. It is not a play about nothing. In fact, it is about everything. However, not having the knowledge of who this character is, their past, the reason they are here, or even what they did to land here opens up all the questions we have about how it relates to us and our lives. In Sartre's novel “Nausea” from 1938, our protagonist is also frighteningly lonely and easily influenced to see the world as it is not. He is unemployed, depressed, has no real social contact, and hates where he lives. He begins to see things for what they are not. A bench is no longer a bench. The waiter at the cafe is a robot because he caters too much to others and ignores his own wants. “No Exit” is an extension of that re-evaluation of nature. Human behavior is everything, even if the plot is nothing.
In essence, the absurdity is the world around us. All of us are playing multiple roles (parents, siblings, family, employee, neighbor, citizen) and Sartre professes that this may be most responsible for the dreaded loss of self. Now you are free to reintroduce the details of his life back into consideration. With that, you are also permitted to see the three are damned to this space for their selfishness, crimes, and lack of morality.
It is a sort of living death to be surrounded by the ceaseless concern for judgments and actions that one does not even desire to change. In fact, since we are alive, I wanted to demonstrate, through the absurd, the importance for us of liberty, i.e. the importance of changing our acts by other acts. - Sartre on “No Exit.”
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Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
NEW MUSIC This Week
Various Artists - BARBIE: THE ALBUM [HOT PINK LP/CD](Atlantic)
A big-budget blockbuster needs a big soundtrack. "Barbie" pulls out all the stops to give this on-screen fantasyland its own dreamlike world of danceable Pop-meets-R&B-meets-Hip-Hop. So, the pink carpet brings you Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Pink Pantheress, Haim, Tame Impala, Gayle, Karol G., and for the marquee single, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice interpolating the Aqua song "Barbie Girl." Hey, what can you say - that's life in the dreamhouse.
GRETA VAN FLEET - Starcatcher [WHITE LP/CD](Republic)
Coming off their never-ending tour for "The Battle of Garden's Gate," GVF had already introduced three new songs into the set. So they used the final shows to roll out the announcement of their third album and its first single the soaring "Meeting The Master." Unlike "Garden's Gate," GVF has gone back to sounding raw and Zeppelin-like (the harmonica on "The Falling Sky") with the help of Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb.
BLUR - The Ballad of Darren [BLUE LP/CD](Parlophone/Warner)
Not that 2015's "The Magic Whip" was not magical, but "Darren" is a return to the biting, clever Blur of old. Damon Albarn eschews sincerity for a blunt "Parklife" style delivery (the Bowie-esque wonder "St. Charles Square"), and the emotional "No Distance Left To Run"-ish brilliance of "The Narcissist." Blur has not sounded this cohesive in decades.
GUIDED BY VOICES - Welshpool Frillies [LP/CD](GBV/Rockathon)
38(!) albums later, Guided by Voices stay alarmingly consistent on "Welshpool." With Travis Harrison recording all the tracks live, songs are alive with the old Nineties crackle and pop. The tradeoff is that "Welshpool" is not nearly as bright and shimmering as recent releases. So, Robert Pollard makes up for it by writing pure power Pop delivered with muscle ("Seedling"), and pummeling hooks (The Move-ish "Meet The Star").
MOLLY TUTTLE & GOLDEN HIGHWAY - City of Gold [BLUE LP/CD](Nonesuch/Warner)
A companion (of sorts) to her Grammy-winner "Crooked Tree," Tuttle pushes her version of Bluegrass to the limits so that it exceeds flatpicking prowess ("San Joaquin"), toward classic Country and Folk textures. On the Western ballad "El Dorado," Tuttle shows great control in both her vocal range and ability to get her band to nail down some complicated doubled riffs. Helped by producer Jerry Douglas (the most decorated Dobro player of all time), Tuttle and Golden Highway work hardest to bottle the lightning of playing together.
Reissues This Week
MADLIB - Rock Konducta, Vol. 1
[LP](RSD Essentials/Madlib Invazion)
Madlib's beats and samples for everyone else (Freddie Gibbs, J Dilla, the late MF Doom) may be where he makes his bread and butter. However, the solo excursions seem liberating. After taking us to Africa, India, and the exotic sounds of the world, "Rock Konducta" settles into some spartan beats ("Giant Okra") and wild samples (Bill Murray from National Lampoon days on "Far Faust"), that truly illustrate how the right find can inspire Madlib to create some hypnotic tracks.
ULTRAVOX - Quartet [2LP/2CD](Chrysalis)
Listening to Ultravox today is simply to not understand how the Midge Ure years were so popular in the UK (five UK Top 10 albums until 1986 and ten UK Top 20 singles to go with it), and never made a dent in the US (the best song on "Quartet" the sweeping "Reap The Wild Wild" peaked at #71 in 1982 with MTV play). Nonetheless, the SynthPop iteration of Ultravox was dramatically helped by Ure's passionate vocals and the mixture of cool synths and icy beats. Working with producer George Martin put new emphasis on the vocals and separation ("Hymn"). While there is a lot of polish here (that will become popular on our shores with other bands very soon), "Quartet" still has its moments today.
ORNETTE COLEMAN - Something Else!!! [LP](Craft Recordings)
Before Kansas City's Ornette Coleman discovered "Free Jazz" in 1960 and then invested his life in orchestral structures (1971's "Skies of America" and 1972's "Science Fiction"), and his own Harmolodic creations, he was a blazing new original saxophone player. In the backroom at Contemporary in Los Angeles, Coleman assembled future legends Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins to prove his songs were "sellable." The Hard-Bop swing of this band is relentless, Coleman and Cherry play so well off of the chording of piano player Walter Norris. Cherry's cornet harmonies on "The Blessing," Haden's grounded bass work on the 13-bar (?) jam "The Disguise," and Coleman's fiery oppositional solo on the closer "The Sphinx," are just a handful of reasons while "Something Else!!!" is one of the best Jazz albums of all time.
FAIRPORT CONVENTION - Liege & Lief [LP](Proper Music UK)
Recovering from the loss of their drummer Martin Lamble in an accident, Fairport Convention took their comfort in the Folk songs of old that bassist Ashley Hutchings had been digging up for years. While Thompson, Denny, Hutchings, and Simon Nicol had tried some of these songs before ("A Sailor's Life" as a blueprint), with the additions of Dave Swarbrick and Dave Mattacks, "Liege" birthed British Folk as we know it. "Liege" is Fairport playing beautifully off of each other ("Come All Ye") and finding their harmonies. As they removed themselves from wanting to be Jefferson Airplane and having to play Bob Dylan like everyone else, Fairport unleashed their own hippie-ish mystic standards ("Tam Lin") and Folk wallops (the classic murder ballad "Matty Groves"). Instrumentation stayed basic, but Fairport quickly proved they could handle various moving parts ("Crazy Man Michael"), and hang it all on Sandy Denny if need be ("Farewell, Farewell"). Their enchantment with these songs translated perfectly into a strain of Folk exclusively for Britain to embrace in the Seventies.
UNREST - imperial ffrr [LP](Teen Beat)
In the rush to the peaks in early Alternative music, a lot of bands that straddled genres get short shrift. DC's Unrest (who played in Jackson at their peak) staunchly refused any pigeonholing. "imperial ffrr" was their sixth release since 1985 and wisely expanded the scope of their singles to lead in many different directions. "Imperial" would predate one of their biggest songs "Isabel." Mark Robinson's speedy Josef K. style guitars would influence so many to drop the stompbox and give that tinny strum all the emotion they had. His plaintive singing (with harmonies) was moving ("I Do Believe You Are Blushing") and Bridget Cross' bass parts could provide neat countermelodies. "imperial ffrr" is not a Lo-Fi at all. Like Beat Happening and similar groups, the studio and its space made Unrest songs sound massive (the Sonic Youth-esque "Firecracker"). However, the intimacy of their writing was best communicated with basic instrumentation and easy-to-play parts. "June" combines a brilliant switch from punchy Punk-style Pop to breezy Shoegaze. "imperial ffrr" could be jaggedy funky, quietly punky, and hit you with a love song that would make you tear up. All along, Unrest rarely sounded like they were trying to only communicate their own sound. Someone took notice, they played the side stage at Lollapalooza III then within a year they were signed to the mighty 4AD where they released the brilliant "Isabel Bishop" EP, "Perfect Teeth" before breaking up in 1994.
