Making Waves

- Cowgirl in the Sand

Picture Perfect

- Cowgirl in the Sand

Tiger Choir and Toy Balloon x&y Sat Aug 28

The night begins without so much as a pop, let alone a bang, with three-piece support act Tiger Choir all the way from Tasmania. Lead singer Elliot Taylor’s uses various programmed loops and effects sound more like a wall of random noises, mixing together as good as water does with oil, than a textural benefit. Their stone composures and lack of interaction with each other quickly leads the audience to lose all interest, even though Taylor tries desperately to grab their attention with vocal dubbing and looping techniques. The imprecise intonation and pitch of each harmony leaves the song sounding awkward and messy. Drummer Sam Nicholson has a smooth, rhythmic style when playing his kit, however his inability to play in the pocket adds to the untidiness of their entire performance.

Toy Balloon’s catchy melodies and creative song structures are like a breathe of fresh air after being subjected to asphyxiation. As lead singer Greg Cooper introduces the first song You’re Feeling Trapped, a gorgeous wave of bubbles flow onto the stage, reflecting not only the colourful flickering lights of their cleverly chosen onstage props, but also the seamlessly flawless manner of this well rehearsed band. A whirlwind of excitement erupts as guitarist Nimai Etheridge returns to the stage without a guitar, but instead a saxophone, breaking out in a jazzy solo. From their amazing sounding programmed loops to their layered percussion and clapping sections, this stylish Brisbane band delivers a cosmic display of professionalism and talent. The energy of pixie like Chloe Cooper, as she jumps and bops around centre stage, has the audience not only dancing with her, but also prodding and wedging to get closer to the stage.

- Cowgirl in the Sand

A Thousand Tiny Men

You can say
Anything you like
I hear the words
Like bullets and knives

You body explodes
Into a thousand tiny men
And they all say the same
But all stay the same

You think it’s right
To compromise?
You think they’ll fight,
While paralyzed?

I’ve tricked you once,
and I’ll trick you twice.

Again, a thousand tiny men.

Blood will boil
And thicken here
You're so unwelcome
with your sickening sneers

We meet again
Or do we not?
Twists and turns
Trapped in knots

Smell the fear
From the cracks in the floor
A barrage of mirrors
Still I ask for more

You choose to offend,
With your dividend?

Again, a thousand tiny men.

Feel the curves,
of the hourglass.
Feel the world,
as her mind departs.

I’ll swap your laughs,
I’ll swap your smiles.
I’ll trade the scars,
I’ll trade the bile.

But what I’ve built
I won’t sacrifice
My shell of sacred
Stones and ice.

You fixed me once
You won’t fix me twice

No, not again, a thousand tiny men.

Perfect Stranger

Please move slower
as courage is building
the afternoon is creeping
the sky is edging dusk.

Please let me tell this
the way that I remember
danger lurks around a well lit corner
platinum and tangerine.

Sudden, overwhelming,
pressure of the cut.
synthetic bounds of preservation
attacking hope and pride and lust.

Obvious eyes and a silent smile
as the break of night receives you
strange, poignant, fragile, pressing
To seek? To stay?

Smirks and horns.
I made this choice.
two sets of eyes, ears, legs,
become one.

Engulfed by subtle sweats
and tiresome wonder
will we meet again perfect stranger?
did you also feel the cold?

- Cowgirl In The Sand

Just Dreaming

Sometimes I just get caught up in my dreams.

I know you notice, I know you can tell that I'm not really there.... but it's a little bit intimidating when you ask what is on my mind sometimes. Sometimes it is sacred. Sometimes you just can't know.

But

Sometimes I wish that you knew what my dreams were about...
Life is full of these little contradictions.

I just wish sometimes, that you knew

when to ask.


- Cowgirl In The Sand

Procrastination

Why is it that we always leave things to the last minute?


Is it because we are so bored with the monotony of our own lives that we want to spice it up a little? Maybe we want the rush of almost missing out on something. Like a minuscule version of almost getting hit by a car? You only JUST slip out in the nic of time!

In a sense feeling like... we may have almost lost out big time but... LOOK! WE DIDN'T! HOW GOOD ARE WE!!??

Like an unnecessary ego boost... where we could have just done the assignment at a reasonable hour, then moved on to better more productive things. Which overall, would have most likely been more of a confidence boost. This therefore strikes closely to the fact that the human race is becoming more and more lazy and finding themselves occupied and entertained by such small rushes of adrenaline.

I think it's a bit of both... I know that I have been sitting here, since the late hours of the afternoon trying to do an assignment that is seemingly easy, however I let my mind go off track with petty things like 'snack time' or 'facebook chats'... or the -not so petty- distractions such as Radiohead and Bjork...



When will the procrastination stop? I could have had this done within a couple of hours but look, it's 11:40 and the assignment is due in 20 minutes. I just kept putting it off and putting it off until the last hour when I knew that I either had to face the facts that it wasn't going to do itself or admit failure.

Coming from the Pickett family, it is impossible to admit failure.

Thus, my quick little fingers typed and typed until they couldn't type no more and BOOM assignment done! All in a matter of minutes.

I personally despise procrastination, however still seem to be a subject to its evil claws every single time!


This is very deep analysis over an assignment that is worth comparatively nothing to my overall grade, but maybe that's just because I've had no sleep... or maybe it's because I know, for a fact, that even with the bigger ones I will still find a way to be occupied up until crunch time. Is it my inability to learn from my mistakes or the fact that I enjoy life's little rushes?

I guess I'll never really know for sure, but it's probably a bit of both.

-Cowgirl In The Sand