The light and the dark...

[violet@bbs.np1.com]

chansen@kiva.com ("Chris Hansen @ Work") wrote:
> it hit me that Kate's music is romantic.
>Not that it is always sensual, erotic or such but that
>every track has a sense of romance - even the harsh, sad or rough
>ones.
>Tori's music, or at least the bits that I have heard, seems to not
>have that aspect to it.  I haven't
>heard any tracks so far which strike me as romantic in lyric, vocal
>or instrumentation.

lombaeg@donald.interpac.be (Emmy May Lombaerts) responded:
>I agree. Kate's song's hold a lot of romance and 'light'
>whereas most of Tori's seem dark, cynical.. . Even the saddest of
>Kate's songs keep you wishing for a happy ending, and leave you
>thinking that no matter how bad it seems, it'll all work out in
time.
>In some of Tori's songs, on the other hand, there's this this
>underlying 'dark' tone of cynicism and sarcasm.
>Even in 'The Wedding List', Kate isn't quite as 'threatening' as
>Tori is on an 'in-the-mood-to-give-the-world-a-good-thrashing'-day..
>Kate to me also sounds like a very English artist, whereas Tori
>(especially on BfP with its 'Southern' feel) is very American.

Yes, Tori and Kate are definitely two very different people.  Kate is
from the side of Light and Tori is a Dark Sister.  To compare the two,
really, you must speak in opposites.

The major reason for this difference is in the way they each tell a
story.  Kate grew up a lonely child and she lived in a daydream world
of movies and books.  Her music reflects that.  The " 'Wedding List'
Kate" doesn't come across as "threatening" because it's NOT Kate;
it's Rudy's bride, out for blood, that we are hearing.  Kate takes on
roles.  She becomes the actress, dramatising her own passion plays,
and after each one, you feel you've heard a whole story and can leave
the theatre now.  Maybe you'll go back and watch that movie a thousand
times, but each time you feel satisfied and can go home, eat your
dinner, read, and go to bed.

On the other side, Tori's world is very real.  You know you're hearing
her diary, and even if you don't understand the way she cloaks
everything, there is a certain terror that comes with the knowledge
that it isn't make believe.

Where Kate IS singing as Kate - as in "Blow Away," "The Morning Fog,"
or "Moments of Pleasure," - you feel the hope under even the saddest
lyrics;  she has solved something, made a discovery ("The Morning 
Fog"..."hey, y'know, I'm going to appreciate what I have right now
without needing a tragedy to come along and wake me up!").  Even in
such bitter songs as "Leave It Open," "All the Love," or "In Search of
Peter Pan"  - where it's so obvious that she has been hurt by real
people - you get a sense that in writing the song she has exorcised
those demons and can wake up in the morning saying "That nightmare's
over, thank God, and I'm movin' on."

Tori, no.  Tori is tormented.  She is hurt, her heart's trusting spot
has been badly damaged.  She will cover a topic in a song, but it'll
still haunt her, and and so it will come back to haunt us, too, in
many other songs on many future days.

Kate's music is a trainwreck on the big screen ... you bite your nails
to the quick and sigh when it's over, happy that the Jimmy
Stewart-like hero foiled the bad guys and went to live in Oz, laughing
later about how great it was when he conked the villain over the head
and got away.  Tori's music is sitting at a train crossing on Saturday
morning and watching it jump the tracks, carreen out of control, hit
people standing on the sidewalk and crash through the plate glass
window of a nursing home.  There's blood everywhere and it's not
colored syrup and no one saying "Cut! That's a wrap" and, oh my God,
I'm gonna be sick!

People used to ask how could I listen to Kate when she's so
depressing.  They thought I was whacked when I told them not only did
I NOT view her as depressing at all, but actually listened to her
music to get OVER being depressed myself.  The song that does it for
me every time is "Symphony in Blue."   This song is about being
depressed, but it's the most anti-sad song I know.  The whole thing is
about saying "Look at how much time you're wasting, silly girl.  Get
into being a little red for a while!  Live."

I saw a comparison of Kate and Tori in an article not long ago.  I
forget which article it was, but it was on Tori.  The writer made a
comment that came across in a not-TOO-nasty-but-still-slightly-negative
way, but I think it is perfect.  He (?) said that while Kate is an
English hothouse lily, completely sheltered from the world, Tori is a
full-blooded southern rose complete with bloody thorns.  I think this
is true.  I don't think either is good or bad.  Just, basically, true.
And I love each of them precisely for the side they represent.  I am
from both sides.  When I'm a lily I need a fellow lily, when I'm a
rose, I need a rose.

But, just at the moment, I am a...

Violet :)