shortly after i got myself the first red sparowes record 'at the soundless dawn', i ordered this baby too. it is the band's second full length called 'every red heart shines toward the red sun'. it's kind of funny that an instrumental band can come up with a lyrical concept for a record. but this is just what red sparowes did here. the concept is carried by the song titles.
and not only this, of course the songs on their own carry a specific mood matching the lengthy song titles. the concept tells the story of a campaign which was part of 'the great leap forward' in china of the late fifties and early sixties of the bygone century. it was called 'the four pests campaign' and meant the mass killing of four animal 'parasites'. the rat, the fly, the mosquito and the above all the sparrow.
it was widely believed that these animals would feed on a considerable portion of the people's harvest and therefore had to be exterminated. in order to specifically eliminate sparrows peasants were encouraged to make noise by banging pots and the like, to scare the birds into continuing flight which would eventually kill them from exhaustion. the mass killing caused the locust to multiply uncontrollably and caused, along with other programs without foresight, a great famine between 1959 and 1962 with 45 million victims.
it was very interesting to listen to the music, reading the song titles and then informing myself about this chinese campaign and its horrible consequences. a very sophistically concept worked out by the band. more of this! the musical part however, is a darker approach compared to the first record. quite natural considering its grim topic. check it out here. the presentation is great too! lovely gatefold with nice art work and matching vinyl colour. third pressing with 500 copies on 'red sun' vinyl. robotic empire. 2006
