Gotye aka Wouter “Wally” De Backer (born 21 May 1980) is not only a solo artist but a member of the Indie trio The Basics.  He was born in Belgium but now resides in Melbourne, Australia.  For the past 13 years Wally has been working his way in and around the scene in Melbourne, performing live and recording his music in his various (he moves a lot apparently) home studios.  His sound is quirky and surreal which is useful since that is certainly the feeling you get when you visit his website gotye.com.

He has won Arias for earlier recordings.  Arias are vicious awards, the Australian version of a Grammy but much pointier and more likely to do someone damage if you get drunk on awards night and leave it in a taxi by accident.  Rumor has it that they make good tent pegs.

Smoke and Mirrors is off the album ‘Mirrors‘. The same album that spawned the fabulous but slightly annoying, only because we heard it every day for at least a year, Somebody that I Used to Know which features that fabulous Kiwi vocalist, Kimbra.

That song earned Wally a real Grammy. Well, a couple really.  Okay, there were three. And that was just as well because some of his 12 Arias insert nicely upside down and are therefore a lot safer to be around. The others are being used to hold up his tent.

The graphics for Mirrors are based on an artwork that Wally’s father painted and left lying around the house.  Much nicer than the painting my father left lying around my house which is affectionately named Girl with Shovel.

I haven’t heard anything he might have recorded since Making Mirrors but I am sure he is working on it.  Tough act to follow though.

Smoke and Mirrors seemed like an apt metaphor for how Kate perceived the world.  I always imagined that she moved in similar circles to the Gray family and therefore it would be entirely feasible that she might have a few near misses with them at social events.  Some people think Kate is a bitch, but I think she is an over protective friend with perhaps a tainted view of the world in which she grew up.  Think of her as a female version of Christian without the NDA and kink.  As a reporter she would be just as capable of stalking – both carrying it out and justifying it to herself.  From this point of view, she probably understands Christian better than Ana does and therefore has every right not to trust him.

I am a victim of private girls’ schooling.  Not that all private girls’ schools are bad but if you don’t fit in, they are a hell of a place to grow up.  If Kate went to those schools then perhaps she learned not to trust people.  Especially the beautiful people. I always had the perception that if they weren’t going to be doctors or lawyers, then the girls I went to school with were in training for finding rich husbands with a short stop in interior design or publishing on the way to their destinations.

As a beautiful and extremely elusive personality, Christian Gray would have seemed suspicious to Kate.  She would have wondered why he wanted Ana, not because Ana wasn’t worth it but because she would see Christian as a man who would be looking for a trophy wife.  She also suspects that there is something slightly fake, if not downright sinister about him.  Like most people in her world.  Smoke and Mirrors reflects every question that she has about Christian’s rapid rise to the top of his game and the reclusive life that he lives.  She sees secrets everywhere, and she doesn’t trust him.

 

Smoke and Mirrors

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Buy Making Mirrors on Amazon.com

You’re a fraud and you know it
But it’s too good to throw it all away
Anyone would do the same
You’ve got ’em going
And you’re careful not to show it
Sometimes you even fool yourself a bit
It’s like magic
But it’s always been a smoke and mirrors game
Anyone would do the same

So now that you’ve arrived well you wonder
What is it that you’ve done to make the grade
And should you do the same?
(Is that too easy?)
Are you only trying to please them
(Will they see then?)
You’re desperate to deliver
Anything that could give you
A sense of reassurance
When you look in the mirror

Such highs and lows
You put on quite a show
All these highs and lows
And you’re never really sure
What you do it for
Well do you even want to know?
You put on quite a show

(Mother)
Are you watching?
Are you watching?
(Mother)
Are you watching?
(Mother)

You’re a fraud and you know it
And every night and day you take the stage
And it always entertains
You’re giving pleasure
And that’s admirable, you tell yourself
And so you’d gladly sell yourself
To others

(Mother)
Are you watching?
(Mother)
Are you watching?
(Mother)
Are you watching?
(Mother)
Are you watching?

Such highs and lows
You put on quite a show
All these highs and lows
And you’re never really sure
What you do it for
Well do you even want to know?
Yeah you put on quite a show