Terje Gravdal has paid us many visits over the last few years but he always has something to say and it is always well worth listening to.
‘Beautiful Lies’ is his latest single, it’s been out for a while on the EP of the same title and he posted it to us on 17th May, Norway’s National Day.
He’s also posted a short video on Instagram which posed the question, “What if all the division in the world is merely a strategy to turn us into tools or enemies?” By ‘tools’ he doesn’t mean hammers and saws, but useful idiots, I guess.
On a Facebook post he proclaims that we aren’t tired, rather in mourning because our politicians do not keep their promises. I won’t bore you with specific instances of that from the UK; suffice to say that 16 u-turns and counting in less than two years by the current government tells its own story.
It’s a familiar theme from Terje but he demands your attention as he articulates concerns from across the social spectrum.
There’s venom in the lyrics but he doesn’t spit it out. He’s calm and restrained, the voice of reason in a fractured world.
I could go through those lyrics line by line but I only need to offer up a couple of wonderful examples:
“Every promise made today…will be torn and flushed away
Then they’ll find a way/to reach us, feed us/make us pay”
That’s really smart, evoking an image of a ‘benign’ entity that understands that those that control the food supply control the world.
Then,
“Well we thought we had it all/be unreachable, we wrote the rules
Now we’re forced to thank these gods for the lies they sold as truths”.
I’m sure that at some time in the past I’ve compared Terje to Bob Dylan. To that you can now add The Strawbs. The laid back Americana with a Nordic twist style here is similar in impact to their songs such as ‘Lay Down’ and ‘Part of the Union’ while also carrying the same lyrical punch.
Truly a man of and for our times.
(Continues after the Spotify link).
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terjegravdalmusic
