ANIMALS

by AJIMAL

	/

about

I wrote ANIMALS after the Charlie Hebdo shootings took place in Paris, when there were a wave of supposedly ‘retaliatory’ xenophobic attacks on ordinary people across Europe. I think it follows a pattern of fear which manifests as hatred and violence. With this song, Guy [Massey] and I particularly wanted to capture something really quite dark; I felt angry when I wrote it - there was an element of despair at the way we struggle to escape that inherent violence in us and the way we treat people whose circumstances and lives we don’t understand. I wanted to contrast these massive, beautiful orchestral elements with disturbing, unsettling elements… metallic scraped and distorted noises, really low frequency, pit-of-your-stomach sort of lows...for it to really pull you in when you listen to it.

lyrics

All things, full of life
Born to see, to feel, to speak
All things, quick forgot, all unique

Nothing’s ever learned all that long
Until it’s gone,
Till a tide turns and in the silence stirs
A violence feigning sleep

Don't you pull me in
Don't you drag me in

Are we lost? Have we lost?
We’ve all killed in ways, whether known or not
A total loss, a total loss!
The softest hint of the imprint of what that was…

I want none of this

Animals!

credits

released January 17, 2020
Written and performed by Fran O’Hanlon (AJIMAL)
Produced by Guy Massey and Fran O'Hanlon
Artwork by drømsjel.
All rights reserved.
ⓟ & ©AJIMAL 2020 under exclusive license to Wow & Flutter Records.

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about

AJIMAL UK

“Soporific, pianistic folk...displaying a charmingly earnest approach.” The Fly

"A new benchmark for sensitive pop in 2013"

Ajimal is the solo project for Newcastle’s Fran O’Hanlon – a collaborative ‘in-ear experiment’ with the aim of writing about the interplay between ideas from music, medicine, art, ideas, literature, science and stories. ... more

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