Hit The Waves (Labrador) is the new album from the Mary Onettes. It’s the long-awaited third full-length from the Gothenburg, Sweden, quartet, and it largely abandons the soaring pop that was the band’s hallmark on its 2007 self-titled debut and 2009’s Islands. Those albums earned the quartet comparisons to the Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen, although polished with a modern synth-pop sheen. Hit The Waves draws likewise from the ’80s, but instead of tuneful post-punk, it deliberately echoes some less trendy sources. The Mary Onettes—brothers Philip and Henrik Ekström, Petter Agurén and Simon Fransson—will be guest editing magnet magazine.co all week. Read our brand new feature on them.
Philip Ekström: A great collection of poetry by Finnish politician/psychiatrist Claes Andersson. He was member of Finnish Parliament in 1987-1999 and 2007-2008. He has written many great collections of poetry. He is not so well known outside of Scandinavia, I guess. I love everything he has written! He makes poetry out of everyday life in a deep and beautiful way.
A part of the poem simply called “For Dad,” from Huden Där Den Är Som Tunnast (which means something like “Where The Skin Is The Thinnest”), translated by me, after the jump.
“For Dad”
It bleeds in you, your strength drains away.
your concern, your way to care, your love.
Showing emotions was hard for you, they were all too strong.
How is the car running ?, you asked when we met.
Then I knew It was love; ready to crash, but already with dents,
passing landscapes, drunkenness, driving too fast, war and the childhoods blurry images.
Now when you have become smaller I understand the power in you, that once scared the hell out of me.
You smoked like a towboat, healthy like a goat, your hand was like an excavator.
Your heart enclosed by gold.
I was your son, now I am your father.
Stop bleeding, leave your wounds alone.
