Lilium, you don't even need to know Latin for this, means lily (sic). I would very much like to understand flowers, perhaps to cajole others, because I liken them to flowers. One thing I do know, the white lily, however beautiful it is, is a symbol of death. We'll leave it an open question whether Pascal Humbert and Jean-Yves Tola, 16 Horsepower musicians by trade, thought about this symbol pregnant with signification.

If we see David Eugene Edwards as 16 Horsepower's blossom, correspondingly Humbert and Tola are the roots, the stem and the leaves. In the background, but no less important. And here they prove how rich their proficiency is. Alternating the blossom at the same time: on nearly all of the ten tracks somebody else sings. Edwards, obviously, but also Tom Barman from dEUS and others. My attention is attracted in particular by Kal Cahoone from Tarantella, who gets to sing twice.

Still one thing is certain. Even when the greenstuff is the same as in 16 Horsepower, it clearly grows differently here. So far as you can make a connection between their minimized countryesque folky songs and the characteristics of pop music, you should dare to make us of that here. No, actually "Short Stories" does turn out to be a lot more pop-like. And like I mentioned at the beginning: this romantic fascination that emanates from flowers, it remains a mystery. But perhaps I could just once flatter someone by comparing him or her to a lily whilst thinking of Lilium. It would definitely be a compliment.