ALT-J

‘An Awesome Wave’ by Alt-J is one of my favourite albums ever. With two viral tracks, a Mercury Award and widespread circulation, I’m sure everyone has heard at least one track from this album. It’s fun, even pop-y at times, but what sets it apart for me is the curious lyrics in the album. Side one has a brief overarching story about a murder, the track Matilda is in reference to the cult film Leon the Professional, Fitzpleasure is in reference to a graphic chapter from Last Exit to Brooklyn, a book from 1964, and if you wait in silence for 5 minutes after the final track, on vinyls and CDs, a hidden song about drugs and paranoia plays.

The most curious feature of An Awesome Wave is its climactic track, Taro. Taro is a well-known song, I was listening to for two years before I ever listened to the album in full, and yet I doubt most people have any idea what Joe Newman is singing about. I certainly didn’t until my third year of listening. His vocals are high pitched and slurred, and the names are abbreviated. Most notably, the song does not focus on the wider story or significance of the characters, rather, it focuses on very intimate, human moments.

Taro is a reference to Gerda Taro, an alias for Gerta Pohorylle. Capa, the primary character of the song, is in reference to Robert Capa, an alias for Endre Friedmann. Gerta was born in Germany in 1910. She was Jewish and was arrested during the early years of the Nazi regime for protesting against them. Shortly after this, she was forced to flee to France. Here, she met Endre. While the two never married, it is widely accepted that they were in love. Gerta allegedly refused a marriage proposal from Endre who never married thereafter.

The duo became journalists covering Parisian politics for several years before the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936. The two travelled to Spain as amateur war photographers. The work produced by the two was widely published and is still celebrated today as ground-breaking in war photography.

While accounts differ, on the 26th of July 1937, Gerta suffered fatal injuries while moving to photograph a Republican General’s car which was transporting wounded soldiers. A tragic photograph was taken of Endre tending to Gerta on her deathbed. She died the following day.

Gerta would become a footnote in Endre’s story, but Endre would continue his career in photography for the remainder of the Spanish Civil War, the Chinese resistance to Japan, the Allied forces retaking France, post-war USSR and ultimately the Indochina war. Like Gerta 17 years before him, Endre was killed chasing a photograph. Thus, Taro opens:

Indochina,

Capa jumps Jeep and two feet creep up the road, to photo, to record, meat lumps and war. They advance as does his chance.

I am not a music student, so I cannot analyse the key or subtle techniques of the song, but it has a distance to it. Perhaps it is the slight oriental influence over the guitar, maybe the vocals convey a sense of longing, maybe the slight delay between the guitar and keyboard in the intro – which ends then – suggests the guitar has lost its partner. The song is tinged with a feeling that something dear is far away from you but getting closer by the second.

The song makes no mention of Endre and Gerta’s tragic connection, it solely focuses on Endre’s final moments. While all historical accounts suggest Endre was killed instantly, seen by many other people, Alt-J envisioned him lying out of sight from ‘medic, friend, enemy, foe’, left to slowly die alone. The song makes very intimate suggestions about these final moments, drawing attention to painlessness, his breathing, a loss of limb and him holding a photograph which we can assume to be of Gerta.

‘Painless, with a great closeness

Reunited with his leg, And with you, Taro.’

The song, and album, ends with the melody, vocals and all other instruments fading away, leaving only two cellos to harmonise with each other, before they fade out too.

Alt-J is no stranger to strange lyrics, often in obscure reference to other art or trends. Yet, Taro finds perfect balance between vague allusions, and a touching tribute to two lovers. Endre was a celebrated war photographer, but Alt-J never once mentions his career, accomplishments, nor offers him any praise. Instead, they detail Endre’s final moments and his devotion to Gerta whom he had only known for 4 years, and who had died 17 years prior. The historical facts and focuses are changed to offer a very human connection to a wider story. This unassuming indie-pop song is in my opinion one of the most intimate and fascinating songs ever made.