Face to the Sky is the second single to be taken from John Cale’s new album, Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood. While that conjures up unsettling images of the 70-year-old Cale lurking in some kind of sex theme park, the album does see the the Velvet Underground co-founder in relaxed form, twisting experimental flourishes into fairly straightforward shapes such as the excellent Danger Mouse collaboration I Wanna Talk 2 U. Built around a slightly unsettled time signature and a repetitive piano riff, Face to the Sky features an instrument beloved of R&B’s finest – the vocoder. But rather than mask the emotion, the effect is dazed and disoriented. This dream-like quality is reflected in the video – premiered here – which involves Cale cavorting around as he croaks lyrics such as “swirling around her, dizzy as a top on a chessboard”. [Source]
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