Marillion - Brave
As the guys got together after a much-needed break from recording and touring 'Holidays In Eden', to create a new album, they only had bits and pieces ready, at best. No proper songs nor any direction on a theme was decided on until Steve Hogarth told the band about a news segment he had heard on a radio station in Bristol, England. A woman had been found walking on Severn Bridge, a known location for suicides, and was allegedly stopped from jumping to her own death. However, she wouldn't speak to anyone, so no one knew what caused her to attempt this. Marillion decided this woman's story was the angle they needed and began to piece together what would become the amazing 'Brave'.
Setting the mood right away the eerie ‘Bridge’ begins with a ship baying it’s horns before a dreamlike keyboard takes it away. It’s almost like the beginning of the end. As Steve Hogarth starts to sing, we are inside the woman’s mind who is preparing to take that final step. The song leads into ‘Living With The Big Lie’ guided by a trippy, creepy guitar. Once the whole band joins in, the atmosphere is dreamy and dark with a lot of turmoil bubbling inside our main character. It picks up pace eventually making the woman’s distraught mind even more vivid, as she is thinking about all the events that led her to the bridge. ‘Runaway’ goes back in time when the troubles started for the woman. It deals about being blinkered, so instead of finding a resolve and giving proper help, only pity and sympathy is given which many times triggers a trauma, which is the case with the bridge woman. Built up around five chapters, if you like, ‘Goodbye To All That’ tells it all how the woman slips fast into the tormented realm she came to inhabit. The descent happens faster due to the lack of proper help from her family. Thinking she has found a resolution and an escape, she embraces the world of heroin with all that it entails. Deep down she knows it’s wrong but it’s better than the false airs put up at home. Musically the song covers many different spectra and it works so well depicting the whirlwind she’s in.
A man who tried to save the woman mainly by talking to her, thinks back on their conversations. Thinking she showed a lot of strength despite her adversaries, he hopes she’s alright and managed to climb out of the descent she was stuck in. By utilizing a somewhat Celtic feel to ‘Brave’ the band perfectly brings out the reflective mood this man is in. In ‘The Great Escape’, which is actually made up by ‘The Last Of You’ and ‘Fallin’ From The Moon’ as well, we’re taken back to real time again as the woman is on her way to the bridge. She doesn’t view her soon-to-be suicide as something bad, but rather the only way to cleanse herself and get rid of all the demons. Waiting to take that final leap, she finally opens up – to herself – and accuse the father, who initially caused all her problems, for not helping and caring for her. Finally liberation is there. She realizes all the pain she’s suffered doesn’t matter any longer. She’s free and steps out from the bridge and falls into the water and disappears…or does she? The music does have a build-up character, it slowly grows and grows until Marillion are pulling out all the stops to add to all the emotions and freedom the woman finally feels. Amazing! Album closer ‘Made Again’ is a contrast to the main theme. It offers hope and rebirth, if you like. Again, who knows if the woman actually died. Bright, light and free of obstacles, a solitary guitar guides Hogarth through a journey of new beginnings.
Listening to ‘Brave’ now it has lost none of the magic it radiated upon it’s release. The album still moves me and touches deep within and I can’t stop marveling at Marillion’s fantastic ability to be down to earth and hit home on emotions like few can. And that’s just focusing on the lyrics. Add the music they create and everything explodes in ways unfathomable. So let their music embrace you and enjoy. While writing this and listening to the album over and over again, I simply can’t grasp why I couldn’t be bothered with the guys later on. I’ll try to figure that out until the next installment.
-Swedebeast