“Dare you, I need you…Dare you, I need you…
Your presence preserves me.
Oh, unworthy, my racing mind
Slows its time.
When the faithful desert me,
When the fears that disturb me
Set their place, you are my only grace.
Dare, dare you slow now.
Right behind us both is a fearless doubt.
Ignore that waiting boat,
I need your heart more than I need your ghost.
When my home is defenceless,
The omens relentless, the trojan horse
Keeps it course,
Your kindness preserves me,
Oh, unearthly through this maze
You are my only grace.
Dare, dare you slow now.
Right behind us both is a fearless doubt.
Ignore that waiting boat,
I need your heart more than I need your ghost.
I see him in the mist on the River of Styx
Sailing to your side.
I see him in the mist, I see him,
I see him through your eyes.
Dare, dare you slow now.
Right behind us both is a fearless doubt.
Ignore that waiting boat,
I need your heart more than I need your ghost.”
[ Dare – Phildel ]
Eleventh work from The Disappearance Of The Girl.
In many ways, this photo sort of mirrors Storm Song: both were born as photos to be digitally enhanced, both required me to be lucky enough to get the right weather, both have some dark imagery that conveys a much sweeter message. In this song, it’s a desperate plea for someone to defy death not to leave the singer alone: something that might seem quite abstract and difficult to put into image, except Phildel did some masterful metaphor work pulling in the myth of Charon and the River of Styx. I went for that concept hands down because it would have otherwise been impossible to come up with something as emotionally strong as the song. On other occasions I would have thought twice before settling for a single metaphor because that often denotes a very superficial reading of a song, but here I think the Charon metaphor, along with the mist, really enclose the full meaning of the lyrics.
In many ways, this photo sort of mirrors Storm Song: both were born as photos to be digitally enhanced, both required me to be lucky enough to get the right weather, both have some dark imagery that conveys a much sweeter message. In this song, it’s a desperate plea for someone to defy death not to leave the singer alone: something that might seem quite abstract and difficult to put into image, except Phildel did some masterful metaphor work pulling in the myth of Charon and the River of Styx. I went for that concept hands down because it would have otherwise been impossible to come up with something as emotionally strong as the song. On other occasions I would have thought twice before settling for a single metaphor because that often denotes a very superficial reading of a song, but here I think the Charon metaphor, along with the mist, really enclose the full meaning of the lyrics.
As you can probably guess, the image is strongly manipulated, although it is still true to its original self: mist is statistically impossible to occur in such a windy city as Trieste, and the possibilities for a boat to appear in front of Piazza Unità d’Italia at the very moment we were shooting were non-existent, so I resigned to just dig up clouds from my personal stock and paint the boat from scratches with my tablet. As for the latter, one thing I put a lot of care into was to leave its direction ambiguous: is Charon rowing towards or away from the girl? Is the second figure looking at her or just sitting resigned to leave her behind? One thing is for certain: Luisa did an amazing job at portraying a sense of expectation and anxiety just with her body language, without even showing her face, which is what makes the photo even more than my digital enhancements.
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