Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Sun

"The Great Leap Forward Poured Down Upon Us One Day Like a Mighty Storm Suddenly and Furiously Blinding Our Senses."

"We Stood Transfixed in Blank Devotion as Our Leader Spoke to Us, Looking Down on Our Mute Faces with a Great, Raging,       

and Unseeing Eye."

"Like the Howling Glory of the Darkest Winds, This Voice Was Thunderous and the Words Holy, Tangling Their Way Around Our Hearts and Clutching Our Innocent Awe."

"A Message of Avarice Rained Down Upon Us and Carried Us Away into False Dreams of Endless Riches."

""Annihilate the Sparrow, That Stealer of Seed, and Our Harvests Will Abound; We Will Watch Our Wealth Flood In.""

"And by Our Own Hand Did Every Last Bird Lie Silent in Their Puddles, the Air Barren of Sound as the Clouds Drifted Away. For Killing Their Greatest Enemy, The Locusts Noisily Thanked Us and Turned Their Jaws Toward Our Crops, Swallowing Our Greed Whole."

"Millions Starved and Became Skinnier and Skinnier, While Our Leaders Became Fatter and Fatter."

"Finally, as That Blazing Sun Shone Down Upon Us, Did We Know That True Enemy Was the Voice of Blind Idolatry; and Only Then Did We Begin to Think for Ourselves."

No, this is not an excerpt from a novel about The Great Leap Forward, although it is in fact a "social" critique of the events that occurred in China between 1959 and 1961 where tens of millions of people died of starvation. The above words are actually song titles from the second album by California based post-rock band Red Sparowes entitled Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Sun. The song titles recount the Great sparrow campaign, an ill-conceived attempt by Mao Zedong to improve Chinese agriculture but which actually triggered a major ecological imbalance in the environment, thus leading to mass starvation. The music itself is your standard post-rock. If you don't know that term, then the music probably isn't for you. It's epic, depressing, poignant, and shrill. And there are no vocals to be found. Hence, song titles that read like a story. If you want to listen to it I can send you a copy. Otherwise, find it on your own.

Why this? Why not? There has to be a comparative literature piece in here somewhere.