Art Metropole

#11086

AGE LP

Artist

The Hidden Cameras

Price

$25.00

Date

2014

Publisher

Evil Evil

Format

Audio

Size

31.5 × 31.5 × 0.3 cm

“AGE” is, to a certain extent, Joel Gibb’s coming-of-age album. He retrospectively explores the most diverse shades of age. Age should not only be comprehended in terms of years; its meanings are too multi-layered. Age can mean anything, but above all, age means to assume moral responsibility. It is no coincidence that Bradley Manning’s profile by GB Jones graces the album’s inside cover. We already live in the Bradley Manning age. For Gibb, Manning is one rare man with decency who has acted honorably with regard to his human responsibilities. Gibb presents Manning as an icon, as a queer freedom-fighter.

For Gibb, being a songwriter means writing about what you know and to take on responsibility. Honesty is his supreme maxim. “If I can’t be honest with oneself, what kind of a bad artist will I be?” Age is a manifesto of truth written primarily in F-minor. And F-minor, we all know, is the key of lament and dejection, yet also of longing and a dark, helpless melancholy. Like with Wilde and Baudelaire, it can also be seen with Gibb that behind every flowery aesthetic is a skeptic looking out the window.