Exile is a loosely-defined concept album created, written and performed by
Gary Numan. It was released in 1998 by
Eagle Records in the UK and
Cleopatra Records in the US.
The concept
"From the beginning, I knew the album was going to be about one thing, a horror story that looked at God and our possible misinterpretations of the Bible, and so the atmosphere in many ways fed itself."
- Gary Numan, interview with Jorge C. Galban*
The concept of the story operates under the premise that
God and the
Devil are, in effect, the same. The God of the Bible that the
Christian religion hold so dear is, really, a malevolent, jealous and vengeful
bastard, who inspires as much
death and
chaos as goodwill and love.
"Exile to me is one big horror story. Personally, I don't believe in God at all, but if I'm wrong and there is a God, what kind of god would it be who would give us the world we live in? It certainly cannot be a good deity. At best God would have to be cruel, selfish, and he would have to have a huge ego."
- Gary Numan, interview in Portland**
This dark view is personified through the nine songs on the Exile album, each of them examining Scripture and works of God through decidedly nasty perspectives. In "Dead Heaven", an alternative to the miraculous 'virgin birth' is given when Virgin Mary is raped by the Three Wise Men. "The Angel Wars" graphically depicts the violence and atrocities that the blindly devoutful will stoop to in order to defend their faith.
There is no traditional story in the album, however. Originally, the story was to revolve around a man who discovered the truth of God and existence. God would then send this man through countless terrible sufferings to try and silence him. "The theme was meant to continue, and I regret that I didn't," says Numan in the Portland interview. Instead, " (...) all nine songs on the album are saying the same thing."
In summary, God is evil. He makes people suffer. Then he lies about it afterwards.
Behind the album
Numan's previous album, Sacrifice (inexplicably named Doom in the US) was considered by many to be a "return to form". Instead of trying hard to gain commercial success with consciously writing songs in hopes of attaining radio success, he switched gears and began writing songs simply for himself. The result was a much darker, more ambient soundscape, which also contained some pretty pointed lyrical barbs at his favorite pet peeves - this included Christianity.
Numan's Christian fans, who apparently forgot that Numan's been bashing God since his early 80's days, were outraged. A former Numan fansite, www.remindmetosmile.com, was altered completely to become "a beacon of light in the dark world of Gary Numan".
"This sort of reaction always amazes me. Here you have people that genuinely believe that God created this entire bloody universe in just six days, without anybody's help, and yet they seem to think that He needs their help to deal with little me. If God was bothered about me, He would deal with me."
- Gary Numan, interview with Jorge C. Galban
Gary reaction was, as is evident, one of bewilderment. A devout atheist, he has repeatedly made references to hollow faith, evil deities and religious zealots. He decided to explore the spiritual side of his music more and, in doing so, create a musical reinterpretation of the Bible. Instead of highlighting the glorious aspects of Creation, he chose to emphasize the darkness and violence of the Bible - passages and scriptures often "forgotten" and concealed by the Righteous - as well as explain the more "magical" passages (ie. virgin birth, resurrection, etc.) through creative rethinking.
It seems, though he hasn't said this outright, that if Christians were going to get upset about his personal beliefs, then he would make an album that would really get them wired up and once and for all leave him alone.
"Because of the amount of anti-Sacrifice feedback, I sat down and began to think about a possible middle-ground point of view that would answer my questions about their belief in something all powerful and my questions as to how something so supposedly kind and loving could create a world so full of violence and pain. The middle-ground idea that I came up with that answered their faith and my questions was Exile."
- Gary Numan, interview with Jorge C. Galban
The album itself
The album consists of 9 songs, each darkly textured with deep resonant synth strings, piano interludes and the occasional distortion guitar. Each song starts with an electronic breakbeat that continues throughout the song, keeping the rhythm steady as the mood of the song changes. Numan has said that there are over 30 beats running through the album, often dubbed over each other.
"I started every song on Exile with drum loops. I built up the groove first because I wanted every song, whatever mood it might have, to be relentless rhythmically. The texturing came next, creating the mood of the songs and then the lyrics to compliment that mood."
- Gary Numan, interview with Jorge C. Galban
Whereas his later album,
Pure, absolutely drips with
aggression and power,
Exile is more
brooding and menacing. Gary's vocals don't drown in the mix; they soar above it with tons of
echo and
reverb. The guitar, although
heavy, is subdued, and often times you have to turn up the sound to even hear the
synth. Only the relentless
beat seems to go on forever.
The track list
- Dominion Day
- Prophecy
- Dead Heaven
- Dark
- Innocence Bleeding
- The Angel Wars
- Absolution
- An Alien Cure
- Exile
An extended version was also released, which puts nearly every song on the album over the 7 minute mark. The total running time of this version is well over an hour, and is heartily recommended.
* Interview found at http://www.geocities.com/chaoticcrit/numan.html.
** Interview found at http://www.sonic-boom.com/interview/gary.numan.interview.html.