Love is the End

I purchased this week, Keane's new album Perfect Symmetry. In the main I'm disappointed, as I feel it doesn't have the melodies of their first two albums though I admire them for developing their sound. My favourite track is the last one "Love is the End," which features the eerie sound of a musical saw. I've sent off to www.Songfacts.com some information on each one of the album's tracks including this little snippet on the musical saw.

The musical saw is a regular hand saw used as a musical instrument, which produces an ethereal sound similar to a theremin. They have been used for over a century, Marlene Dietrich, for instance performed with a musical saw when entertaining the troops during World War II. Among contemporary artists who play it are Tom Waits, Eels and Sarah McLachlan. Additionally Mercury Rev used it extensively on their Deserter’s Songs and All is Dream albums. In Britain its popularity increased thanks to the success of a young sawist named Austin Blackburn on ITV’s talent reality show Britain’s Got Talent. Its best known use in the cinema was in the French black comedy Delicatessen, where Louison (Dominique Pinon) plays the saw accompanied by Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac) on the cello.