ADAM PAVITT

“sweating on the inside of too many clothes to wear”….”world divided, no-one really knows, if we care”…….”if we can”

Glistening is a short sharp song that is about the excesses of the modern world. It talks about a world divided. A world where we are the privileged few and the majority of the world’s population is poor. It’s a crazy life living in the first world. There is so much to give and yet we take, take, take. Third world sweatshops still make our clothes and their forests are cleared for our farms. We are put on the treadmill by driving up the price of land and having to earn a wage forever to own a quarter acre block. Who has the time to change the world working 9-5? Knock off, drink away the stress and then back to work the next day. The people starve and meanwhile our tables overflow with food. I don’t want to get caught in the trap of apathy.
Progress proceeds and before you know it one cubic metre is worth one million dollars in downtown Tokyo. Meanwhile kids sift through rubbish for food in bare feet. How is that relative?Do we care? Or are we sweating under too many clothes to wear? are we too busy snapping up the next consumer product put in front of us?
We all give to charities, and a while back i decided to make a choice to buy all my clothes at the second hand stores to make sure that money was going to help people, animals and the various charities that run the those clothes shops. It is a great way to avoid sweatshop labor and i’ve been pretty committed since 1995….buying all my clothes there(except socks and undies). I know it’s only a small contribution, it feels good though, and there are so many clothing gems to be found. As a painter, i know that if i spill some paint on my clothes, it’s no great loss..just grab a bunch more for a few dollars. The clothes are worn-in and often one-offs can be found.
Glistening has a nice bouncy drum feel to it which i like.This is probably due to the bass and drums being captured live.I even dropped in a bit of cowbell during the bridge for more rhythm intensity. Steve Vella (Dog and Bear Studio) was right into this hilarious youtube video with Christopher Walken, all about a song needing “more cowbell”, so it was fun to overdub that. My guiro experiments didnt make the edit though and were a good laugh at the time. I find the backward guitar in the second half of the song quite interesting with it’s violin sound. It was Cameron Spike-Porter’s favorite track off the album, and so he agonised over what to add guitar-wise. The sharp finish of the song is a highlight for me too.
Adz