"Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass" Spoken Word Poetry Album - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[Swan Song 289]

So I listened to half of it at the beach and the other half at my house and.... it is a lot better than I thought it would be! The music is beautiful and I like hearing her read, it feels obviously personal and intimate, and very emotional. Some of it that is written in a stream of consciousness style makes me wish I had the actual book in my hands so I could go back and look at it myself.

 

I loved Bare Feet on Linoleum and it's so weird? I know a lot of people miss her mystery and (her fave word) persona that she had, but I liked this and it brings an image of who she is/wants to be to the forefront a little more. 

[cheaptrailertrashglm 3,406]

tbh i'm super annoyed about how this is being released.

i'm not rolling in the dough so the fact that i already bought the CD version through her website and can't receive it until October .. but the audiobook released today is really freaking annoying.

 

so i guess i won't be able to listen until some money falls into my lap or until October.

 

 

yes i'm salty

[The Greatest 8,803]

I majored in poetry and I was surprised how good this was

[Obduration 6,548]

tbh i'm super annoyed about how this is being released.

i'm not rolling in the dough so the fact that i already bought the CD version through her website and can't receive it until October .. but the audiobook released today is really freaking annoying.

 

so i guess i won't be able to listen until some money falls into my lap or until October.

 

 

yes i'm salty

It's free on audible when u make a new account

[HighbytheSea 4,790]

Ok ummm Salamander's instrumentals are a lot heavier on the NFR vibe then I thought and even though its a dark vibe, it sounds like something that would play right after it F*ck it i Love You. Its such a bleeding heart poem and so her. A scene as cliche as a car winding down a summer road is still fresh in her words. Damn Salamander is an undercover babe.

[5adboy 5,015]

It sounds so good played with NFR! What a cohesive body of work Lana, can't wait for Chemtrails

[cheaptrailertrashglm 3,406]

It's free on audible when u make a new account

i had audible for years and cancelled a few months ago because it was becoming pointless to keep paying for something i wasn't using much anymore. So i can't make an account unfortunately

It sounds so good played with NFR! What a cohesive body of work Lana, can't wait for Chemtrails

are you listening via spotify?

[5adboy 5,015]

i had audible for years and cancelled a few months ago because it was becoming pointless to keep paying for something i wasn't using much anymore. So i can't make an account unfortunately

are you listening via spotify?

 No :/ I bought it on iBooks and transferred everything on my AM library

[cheaptrailertrashglm 3,406]

 No :/ I bought it on iBooks and transferred everything on my AM library

oh dang it

hoping someone puts this on youtube. i can't afford to buy this a third time

[Fingertips 72,034]

Grinning wildly like a madman

With the exuberance that only doing nothing can bring

Waiting for the fireworks to begin

& in that moment I decided to do nothing about everything

 

one of the most poignant moments

[Downtown Baby Doll 5,309]

It sounds so good played with NFR! What a cohesive body of work Lana, can't wait for Chemtrails

 

^^^ If you haven't listened to SportCruiser and Mariners back to back you are missing out. WOW. 

I just got done with my first listen on a long walk outside and I can't believe how much I loved it. I don't have anything to say that hasn't been said - it's definitely the most intimate project we've ever got from her. I didn't know it was possible to love and appreciate this woman more, but damn. She is an artist, period.

[Poor Stacy 11,994]

Sorry to sound slightly hyperbolic, but this poetry album genuinely captures Lana's essence to me. I think all of her albums are TRUE to her in some way, but I really... hear her in this one. The weirdness of her personality is allowed to fully shine through that we once heard in some of her earlier, unreleased work. Don't get me wrong, compared to all the other girls out there, everything Lana does is weird, but the actual, real eccentricity of her personality is on display here. Paired with the slightly ominous, atmospheric background music...

Not everyone's going to love it or get it, but they're not who it was made for. It truly is an incredible piece of work, and I hope she continues to give zero fucks with Chemtrails, because uncompromising Lana is where it's at.

[sjatib 5,168]

Needed three full attempts to get to listen to this project in full. Its heavy, its complex. It isnt something you can listen to while doing or thinking about anything else. This is so obscure and its brilliant. Lana delivery is truly outstanding and Jack's music couldnt have been done better. I wasnt expecting for this album to be such a dense,dark artistic thing. Maybe its even too dark. Damn, Lana...

[Vertimus 9,547]

For me, VBBOTG IS neither good nor bad. Since the 1950s, when ‘free form’ and ‘confessional’ poetry began, anything not written in paragraph form is and can be considered poetry, and this an example of both free form and confessional poetry. In terms of language, it’s a little too conversational for my taste.

 

I’m glad for LDR that she succeeded at getting it done and launching this aspect of her career.

[gatadelrey 4,616]

I honestly can’t wait to go for a walk and listen to this when I have the chance. Now that I am thinking of it, I don’t really ever listen to Lana on walks. Idk why. Violet puts me in my feels so I think a long walk will be good. (:

[Poor Stacy 11,994]

I don't know why they won't just put the whole thing on Spotify. I want to stream the shit out of it.

[American Whore 51,089]

Does anyone know the filter Lana uses in her videos like the one she posted today?

[IanadeIrey 61,916]

Just thought I'd share the tracklist I made that includes all 14 tracks of both Violet and NFR! I kept NFR's original tracklist in order as I felt it flowed better with each poem as an interlude between each song. Each poem I feel at least generally matches a song on NFR all based on mood and tone, if not perfectly. Each poem prefaces its sister song.

Hope you enjoy if you use! <3

 

1. Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass

2. Norman Fucking Rockwell

3. SportCruiser

4. Mariners Apartment Complex

5. The Land of 1,000 Fires

6. Venice Bitch

7. Salamander

8. Fuck It I Love You

9. Tessa DiPietro

10. Doin' Time

11. What Happened When I Left You

12. Love Song

13. Never to Heaven

14. Cinnamon Girl

15. Past the Bushes Cypress Thriving

16. How to Disappear

17. LA Who Am I To Love You

18. California

19. My Bedroom is a Sacred Place Now - There Are Children At the Foot of My Bed

20. The Next Best American Record

21. Paradise is Very Fragile

22. The Greatest

23. Quiet Waiter - Blue Forever

24. Bartender

25. Happy

26. Happiness is a Butterfly

27. Bare Feet on Linoleum

28. Hope is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have - But I Have it

[DCooper 36,719]

I wonder how much the project has changed and evolved since she originally had it planned for release before NFR. After listening so many times, it really does feel like it was meant to come after NFR.

 

Moments like "stupid apartment complex" wouldn't be as special without Mariner's, and the return to Sylvia Plath in Bare Feet on Linoleum is even more powerful after Hope.

 

What she says about people who feed off of paradise seems like an introduction to themes she will explore in Chemtrails over the Country Club.

 

Also, the super stressful ending doesn't sound like it would be leading into something like NFR. Now I expect the new album to be a lot darker than I was originally thinking. As she says, she's gone scorched earth and choosing to end on a note this dark makes me think the project is going to be a little more unhinged.

[irvnex 1,250]

SportCruiser is the best with no doubt, followed by LA and Bare Feet imo, but i really really love Salamander, i love how she talks in it and it sounds like a 50s movie