"Torn" by Ednaswap from the album Wacko Magneto. 1997.
Music often has a potency far greater than any drug. A single-song dosage can shake the foundation of one's mind more effectively than a shipwrecked and island-stranded heroin addict returning to civilization via the Golden Triangle during typhoon season- ...Under the correct circumstances... Much like a bottle of aspirin would never settle the shakes for our castaway junkie, an exact sort of tune must unfurl itself to the ear for actual use as medicine. It must be discovered. Saturday night found me entangled in this precise soul-searching dilemma, and I now write to you the prescription for my ailment.
Okay, so raise your cursor if you've heard this one before. Or more likely, raise your eyebrow, for you've likely at least made acquaintance with Natalie Imbruglia's pop version, if not pranced to third base with it. The radios of 1997 certainly did, and likely stole home plate before Ednaswap could even release their own original. Well, technically, they can't claim 'first' like some internet troll on a forum topic. If you want to read the history, read its wiki article. I'm more inclined to let you hear it. Nonetheless, Ednaswap CAN claim 'original' for their influence upon "Torn" - specifically that unique, grunged-down rough-among-the-diamonds appeal that distinguishes it from the other cut-and-pastes. Admittedly, I've no qualms with the popular version. Imbruglia becomes an imbroglio though when you realize everything but her vocals might as well have been xeroxed from earlier records. Hmmm... that wordplay gives too much credit; there's nothing complicated about Spot the Difference games. Put simply, Ednaswap instead morphed the picture into a crossword puzzle. Spot THAT difference!
In my mind, the clearest disparity to circle lies in the emotion. Imbruglia just seems to sing through the motions while Endaswap's lead Anne Preven slathers her throat with raw power. Think of the former as some casual juggling act in a sold-out, big-top circus while the latter as a stratosphere-tickling trapeze routine preformed in the grungy back alley. The stupefied audience might find the juggler entertaining, but the real breath-taking spectacle can't be so dime-a-baker's-dozen. You wouldn't leave the concert of your favorite band just after the opening act finished their set. So instead you instead swap for Ednaswap to hear the grand finale built between the warring gymnastics of guitar and voice. And my, what a show! It seems all the best of Pearl Jam gets channeled here.
Let me breadcrumb you back to the drug-riddled introduction. The fervor of the featured "Torn" carried the proper elixir I'd been searching for. If skills and logic could fly off to the moon like the livestock of the nuclear reactor's pig pen, and my introspection alone could have funneled itself through a soundboard, the result would stand before you. Not because I thought I saw a man brought to life, nor because I couldn't adore his zombie self, but rather the honesty dribbling from the consummation of raw vocals and rugged playing. There's no studio excrement painting the floor of this number. Simply a bleeding heart on a dimly-lit stage pumping out exactly what it should: life blood. It's real. There's earthquakes powering the mellow tempo, and the lyrics actually match the atmosphere. Hence, the aforementioned potency. A tango with this song choreographed my meditation. I imagine even those with two-left feet and a fluctuating pacemaker can at least cop a Macarena feel out of it. Whether 90s line dances can alleviate your mental anxieties, though, depends on your sanity level.
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