Brand New Day: The world according to Sting<\/p>\n
By Devi M. Asmarani<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): He was born with a cool enough name, Gordon
\nMatthew Sumner, but he prefers to go by the monosyllabic Sting.<\/p>\n
He was the bassist, lead singer and principal songwriter for
\none of the world's most famous bands, The Police, but disbanded
\nit at the peak of its success in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
He has come a long way from a restless, working-class Brit
\nwith a shock of wild blond hair, to a modern renaissance man clad
\nin dark \"trench-coatey\" clothes, roaming the streets of Paris and
\nIndia and slipping deep into the ponderous and sagacious side of
\nhimself.<\/p>\n
His music gets more artsy, his lyrics more literary and he
\nproudly soars above his superficial pop and rock music peers. But
\nthat is just one opinion.<\/p>\n
More often, this born-again conviction is an object of scorn.
\nSince the Police days, Sting's skeptics see him turning into a
\npompous songwriter and a pop star who takes himself too
\nseriously.<\/p>\n
Even after having lost some of his old fan base, Sting has not
\nlost his edge. The fact that he is a virtual paradox may have
\nsomething to do with it.<\/p>\n
After two decades in the music industry, he deserves credit
\nfor creativity, unmatched authenticity and a strong sense of
\nidentity, mixed with equally sharp commercial judgment that puts
\nhis albums these days in the same racks as those of the Spice
\nGirls, instead of the less-scanned racks of obscure nonpopulist
\nmusicians, in record stores.<\/p>\n
Sting grows with his music. He is gallant and solitaire but
\nnever a recluse in an industry that can be ruthless. His strong
\nmusical drive leads to a restless crusade to create music that is
\nhis by identity but never by style.<\/p>\n
He ventures into the exotic (using ethnic and historical
\nreferences), simplicity (American country music) and enigmatic
\nrhythmical forays.<\/p>\n
The same goes for Sting's lyrics. They are honest, sometimes
\npersonal, sometimes expansive, but always communicative in the
\ntraditional storytelling style.<\/p>\n
In literature, Sting would represent the visceral humanism
\nwith the pragmatic approach of short-story master Raymond Carver
\nand, at the same time, the imaginative and romantic sensibility
\nof early 19th century poets.<\/p>\n
In his new album Brand New Day (A&M Records), these sweeping
\ntraits were further refined by the matured musician.<\/p>\n
Sting is not hesitant to cover the overrated subject of love
\nand all its excess baggage; most artists who take their arts
\nseriously know better than to mess around with the subject of
\nlove. It tends to result in generalization, cliches or self-
\nindulgence.<\/p>\n
In Sting's album, love is not treated as a sacred entity nor a
\nproduct of the fools. Love is boiled down into an inevitable
\ncondition -- which could turn bad -- an affordable delicacy and a
\ncrucial key to life's little secret spiced with compassionate
\nsense of humor.<\/p>\n
With his core band (guitarist Dominic Miller, drummer Vinnie
\nColaiuta and percussionist Manu Katche) as well as guest stars
\nStevie Wonder (on harmonica), trumpeter Christ Botti, French
\nrapper Ste Strausz (aka Stephani Quinol), vocalist James Taylor
\nand his frequent guest jazzer Branford Marsalis on clarinet,
\nSting coproduced with Kipper yet another excellent piece of work.<\/p>\n
The album's opening song A thousand Years is a reflective and
\nmoody number on a journey to reaffirm one's love. Its monotonous
\nmelody and slothful but rich rhythm has a quaint quality blended
\nwith the use of tranquil harmonizations.<\/p>\n
The much acclaimed Desert Rose has the celebrated French-
\nAlgerian vocalist Cheb Mami singing Arabic rai opposite Sting.
\nProclaiming an opulent sexual longing, it gives a transcendental
\narabesque sensation to a song filled with sensuous imagery: \"This
\ndessert rose\/Each of her veils, a secret promise\/This desert
\nflower\/No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this\".<\/p>\n
A smart song worthy of notice is the Big Lie Small World. It
\ntells a story of a man who writes an I-never-felt-better letter
\nto his ex-lover, only to change his mind after it has been sent.<\/p>\n
In his desperate efforts to get the mail back before it
\nreaches the intended recipient, the man ends up dealing with the
\nlaw. It is witty, sad, and eerily real. In an alienating airy
\nbossa nova, it feels like an excursion into the inside of an
\nAlbert Camus' novel.<\/p>\n
Sting's love is not the property of humans only. Perfect
\nLove... Gone wrong tells of a dog in a deep jealous funk over his
\nfemale owner's new lover.<\/p>\n
This first person approach is also used in the smoky and
\nstringy Tomorrow We'll See, which is from a streetwalking gender-
\nbender's point of view, voicing a dreary but lucid passage: \"They
\nsay the first is the hardest trick\/And after that it's just a
\nmatter of logic\" and \"Don't judge me\/You could be me in another
\nlife\/In another set of circumstances.\"<\/p>\n
Like the songwriter himself, Fill Her Up is full of elements
\nof surprise. It starts out a country song -- a reminder of I'm So
\nHappy I Can't Stop Crying from the Mercury Falling album --
\nmoving on to grave medieval plain song to rousing gospel choir,
\nbefore finally rounding out with a sprightly jazzy bit.<\/p>\n
The title cut, Brand New Day reflects Sting's new look on
\nlife: \"Why we don't turn the clock to zero honey\/ I'll sell the
\nstock we'll spend all the money\/We're starting up a brand new
\nday.\"<\/p>\n
Sting once said in an interview with Billboard magazine that
\nas he gets older, he is wiser and smarter, and yet not so sure
\nanymore. Perhaps the one thing he has come to is the full
\nassurance that the glass is now half-full.<\/p>",
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