News Track By Track: Get Well Soon - The Scarlet Beast O’Seven Heads

Get Well Soon is just about about ready to release his third album, ‘The Scarlet Beast O’Seven Heads’ via City Slang next week (3rd September). And whilst we spoke to Konstantin Gropper himself earlier in the year for a lengthy chat about the new LP, we thought there’s no better way to get to know a new record than through the eyes and ears of the person that wrote it. Get Well Soon guides us through his latest full-length track by track.

1.Prologue
I was trying to capture my emotional state when starting an album. It‘s about taking courage. So this song is for me, all the others are for the listener. Therefore I would describe it as purely sentimental musically.

2. Let Me Check My Mayan Calendar
This one is not sure whether it‘s good or a bad thing that the world‘s supposed to end in 2012. Therefore it has no lyrics. But the ‘Dies Irae’ in major chords.

3. The Last Days Of Rome
This one‘s about fighting cynicism. These are golden times for melancholic artists. The inspiration is delivered to the door. So this is about not going down this obvious road.

4. The Kids Today
Here the good intentions from ‘The Last Days Of Rome’ already fail. I tried not to sing about the Athens/London/Rome riots. But a friend told me about a kid that got caught during the riots, trying to steal a viola from a music shop. That got to me. So this is about how minor the “teenage angst” of my generation was, which called itself “no future“, compared to those of today.

5. Roland, I Feel You
A homage to Roland Emmerich. „I specialise in end-times, too“. I think, I have a completely different take on melancholy, but that‘s what interested me.

6. Disney
A song about childhood memories. I have very few unfortunately. But good ones. The most vivid ones are the films of my childhood. And there were of course a lot of Disney‘s ones.

7. A Gallows
This is about the sincere hope that the current anti-capitalism state of mind is not just a fashion thing.

8. Oh My! Good Heart
This is about positive thinking despite better knowledge. After all I think I am an optimist. At least a romantic.

9. Just Like Henry Darger
Another deeply romantic song. I got introduced to the life and work of Henry Darger at an outsider art exhibition. The fact that he kept his work a secret all his life and was creating a whole world just for him and him only is a truly artistic ideal. Art pour l‘art.

10. Dear Wendy
The fulfillment of a longterm wish: My Wendy Carlos homage. Done.

11. Courage, Tiger
This one is based on the Seinfeld episode ‘The Comeback’. George is being insulted by a co-worker, but doesn‘t come up with the right comeback until he‘s alone in his car on his way home. I‘ve been in this situation so many times.

12. The World’s Worst Shrink
This one‘s about, or rather against, all those crooks offering solutions and perspectives in life. Self-help books, religions, mystics. My sympathies are always with those looking for meaning, never with those offering it.

13. You Cannot Cast Out The Demons, You Might As Well Dance
Musically this is my attempt to reference dance music with acoustic sounds only. The message is already in the title. It‘s also a homage to the women in Hitchcock films and their demons of course.

Get Well Soon’s new album ‘The Scarlet Beast O’Seven Heads’ will be released on 3rd September via City Slang.