The Juliet Letters
Elvis Costello and The Brodsky Quartet

The Juliet Letters is a collaboration between the rock artist Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet. The inspiration for the project came from stories of a professor in Verona who answered letters addressed to Juliet. (No word of letters addressed to Romeo; that says something about gender and our culture’s perception of romance, but that’s another article altogether.)

The album is a collection of pieces based on letters of all sorts; love letters, suicide notes, political tracts, junk mail. Many of the pieces are connected by interludes of the string quartet alone, this creates a wonderful tapestry effect. The album could easily be listened to for the sound of the music alone, but intelligent and thoughtful lyrics add layers to the overall experience. Interestingly, the project was a true collaboration with members of the quartet participating in all facets of the songs’ composing.

"Expert Rites" is most connected with the album’s title, with Costello taking the role of the professor returning a letter to Juliet: 

I marvel at the wonder of it in our souless age
Fast flow the tears upon the page
Don’t be alarmed I am her friend
Will I be excused if I presume
It’s more than disappointment that we share
You share the same sorry life, the families fight,
that unhappy blade you both invite
This romantic ideal has a lonely appeal
I once loved someone the way that you do
But I had to let her go
I live with my regret
Don’t despair my would-be Juliet
This song is marred by Costello’s vocals at the end, however, as he seems to pushing range in terms of volume and emotional content.

Other pieces deal with relationships from the inside, as in "For Other Eyes" 

I don’t know what I should do
If this letter should fall into
Other hands than it should pass through
For other eyes

He said "It was nothing...it’s over and done"
But the rotten worm was burrowing still
Its spirit invades me bleeding me white
For other replies
I searched his pockets
I searched his eyes
I searched his wallet for clues and lies
And I found a number that I somehow dialed
A woman answered, a woman smiled
Then she hung up on the silence unperplexed
Innocently spun her rolodex
I dialed again I could not resist
Revealing just the dentists receptionist

One day we’ll laugh about it or maybe we’ll curse
But there is one thing that is making it worse
And it’s the lack of forgiveness that I can’t disguise
No matter how well he lies
Now we don’t know each other any more
And when we touch our lips feel sore
I question the longing left in his sighs
For other eyes.
This is the first work with lyrics on the album (the second track;) it is interesting to start with a stanza that calls into question the listener’s role in the song, as the ‘other hands’ the writer is afraid of. The self-recrimination of the final stanza emphasizes the multilayered nature of adult relationships.

The Juliet Letters can be a little heavy handed in some place, often seeming obsessed with themes of loss and death. It brings to mind the fact that Romeo and Juliet was above all a tragedy, and our culture's refusal to accept it as such. The string quartet usually has a dark somber sound, but with flashes of bright insight. (At one point the strings even become the chilling sound of an air-raid siren.) Still, there is enough variety among the collection of pieces make this album an excellent musical investment.

[MAIL] Comments?
[BLENDER]Back To October 1997 Blender Digest