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| Track list: 1. Ether Sings 2. Icebound Stream 3. Rapture 4. Lonely Angel Dust 5. The Cloud Room 6. Wind Is Blowing Stars 7. Shadow Blues 8. Anne Bonny Rag 9. Snow Camping 10. Chimney Sweeping Man 11. Salvage a Smile 12. Blackened Anchor 13. Riptide Running time: 39 minutes Released: 2004 |
I think my first exposure to Laura Veirs must have been through LastFM. All I remember is that something drove me to pick up July Flame which I absolutely adored and from there I picked up a smattering of her other work, but never went all in. This is one of a number of other Veirs albums I did pick up. If I enjoy this as much as I think I might, I may have to fill the back-catalog holes. Thirteen tracks in thiry-nine minutes is a fair clip, so lets get to it.
Ether Sings has a stronger emphasis on the vocal than I would expect. I am not sure it works that well; Veirs' voice is an odd one and this sort of strong vocal centre does not suit it that well in my view. The backing is a cute little guitar loop and some odd electronics which lend the piece a Jeckyll and Hyde quality to it. I would file the song under interesting rather than good. The second track also has Veirs' vocal as a loud centrepiece. This track uses that better though, with a more piecemeal backing that sort of fits around her. It is immediately more appealing, even though that backing is also somewhat untuneful in places.
It is the day after the clocks went back. 4pm and the skies are already starting to darken. I hate this time of year. It will be worse tomorrow, when I expect it will be largely if not entirely dark before I leave work. Joy. I am hoping that there are some nice songs in here to help take my bitter mind off the impending dark winter. Rapture has a nice echoing effect to it, the vocal is softer, which I think suits it better, and it has a sense of narrative to it - quite apart from the lyrics, the different strands of the arrangement, and different phrases of the composition carry this over. I rather like it.
I can't shake the feeling that this weekend has been a bit of a write off. After a nice evening of boardgames on Friday night I feel that I have managed nothing in the time since. I don't even feel rested after taking advantage of the extra hour to stretch to almost 11.5 hours in bed. My eyes are drooping now as they were yesterday when I listened to Cara Dillon. I find my tired head nodding along with The Cloud Room though - this has a nice energy to it. A simple lyric performed with a distinctive voice, and a strong, if unadventurous, backing makes the chorus very appealing, and the weaving of electronics in the arrangement offset the rest of the sounds well enough to keep it interesting.
What follows that is stripped right back, and feels bare by comparison. There's a hint of the old west to Wind Is Blowing Stars to my ear - probably coming through from the way the fiddle is used to add a strained note here and there under the main tune. The tone of the album has been jumping around a bit, for sure, and it goes dark and bluesy next. The nicest touch is the addition of a deep male voice following Veirs' lead and providing an aural shadow, to go with the name. The haunting nature of the music is nice, but the vocal contrast - her bright and clear, him dark and looming - is what makes the song shine. I sit, largely spellbound whilst it plays out. I'd like to place that shadowing voice but I can't. What I can say is what it reminds me of, and that is the combination of Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan.
That masterful track is followed by a breezy instrumental - again playing with stereotypical western-y themes, with a somewhat honky-tonk key line. It is a brief interlude before Veirs' voice returns, offset by a gentle guitar and cymbals that evoke crashing waves. A sad song I think, though I don't make out enough of the lyrics to be sure. I love it when the arrangement picks up more, rounding out the sound and coalescing it into a stand out track. Snow Camping - you should try it.
Random thought: My fingers smell faintly of vanilla, popcorn eaten before I started this post.
There is a wonderful tone to the guitar on Chimney Sweeping Man. There is a slight echo to Veirs' voice here - an effect I think she must be fond of, but one that works very well with her singing voice so I cannot blame her for that. It contrasts the simple clarity of the melody nicely. I think, with a few still to go, that it is fair to say I really like this disc. Not as much as July Flame, but then it hasn't had the same crack at inveigling its way into my musical consciousness so that isn't really a surprise. Nothing here stands out quite as much as my favourite Veirs track, Summer is a Champion, but the general quality is high.
That said, there is a discordant edge to Salvage a Smile, a tightness to the strings that sets my teeth on edge. It makes for really tough listening, a screech of discomfort behind her words. Thankfully the track is short, and is washed away from my thoughts with the opening breaking waves of Blackened Anchor. This, too, has a tightness in the strings that form part of the opening swell, but here it is controlled - edgy, but emphatic and not unpleasant. It reminds me a little of the opening credits to Black Sails, which I really should get back to as I enjoyed season 1 a lot. The tune is an instrumental, and over quickly so I am into the closer.
Riptide is a simple guitar and voice effort, a nice roll to it, and a bit more depth after the first verse is done. Simple tapping percussion is a nice change, and I love her voice here. Slightly more rounded, very well fitted to the tune behind it. It is a chilled exit to the album, which has flown by. I really should look up her other works and fill out my holdings. There is just something about her take on Americana - for that is the easiest genre label to apply, if not a completely accurate one - that resonates well for me. The song leads out with a long instrumental, strings partnering the guitar and simple rhythm; the end arrives suddenly and without fuss, plunging me into the hum of my CPU and the tapping of these keys.
Laura Veirs (I keep typing Veris - darn fingers!) is great, guys. Check her out.
Ether Sings has a stronger emphasis on the vocal than I would expect. I am not sure it works that well; Veirs' voice is an odd one and this sort of strong vocal centre does not suit it that well in my view. The backing is a cute little guitar loop and some odd electronics which lend the piece a Jeckyll and Hyde quality to it. I would file the song under interesting rather than good. The second track also has Veirs' vocal as a loud centrepiece. This track uses that better though, with a more piecemeal backing that sort of fits around her. It is immediately more appealing, even though that backing is also somewhat untuneful in places.
It is the day after the clocks went back. 4pm and the skies are already starting to darken. I hate this time of year. It will be worse tomorrow, when I expect it will be largely if not entirely dark before I leave work. Joy. I am hoping that there are some nice songs in here to help take my bitter mind off the impending dark winter. Rapture has a nice echoing effect to it, the vocal is softer, which I think suits it better, and it has a sense of narrative to it - quite apart from the lyrics, the different strands of the arrangement, and different phrases of the composition carry this over. I rather like it.
I can't shake the feeling that this weekend has been a bit of a write off. After a nice evening of boardgames on Friday night I feel that I have managed nothing in the time since. I don't even feel rested after taking advantage of the extra hour to stretch to almost 11.5 hours in bed. My eyes are drooping now as they were yesterday when I listened to Cara Dillon. I find my tired head nodding along with The Cloud Room though - this has a nice energy to it. A simple lyric performed with a distinctive voice, and a strong, if unadventurous, backing makes the chorus very appealing, and the weaving of electronics in the arrangement offset the rest of the sounds well enough to keep it interesting.
What follows that is stripped right back, and feels bare by comparison. There's a hint of the old west to Wind Is Blowing Stars to my ear - probably coming through from the way the fiddle is used to add a strained note here and there under the main tune. The tone of the album has been jumping around a bit, for sure, and it goes dark and bluesy next. The nicest touch is the addition of a deep male voice following Veirs' lead and providing an aural shadow, to go with the name. The haunting nature of the music is nice, but the vocal contrast - her bright and clear, him dark and looming - is what makes the song shine. I sit, largely spellbound whilst it plays out. I'd like to place that shadowing voice but I can't. What I can say is what it reminds me of, and that is the combination of Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan.
That masterful track is followed by a breezy instrumental - again playing with stereotypical western-y themes, with a somewhat honky-tonk key line. It is a brief interlude before Veirs' voice returns, offset by a gentle guitar and cymbals that evoke crashing waves. A sad song I think, though I don't make out enough of the lyrics to be sure. I love it when the arrangement picks up more, rounding out the sound and coalescing it into a stand out track. Snow Camping - you should try it.
Random thought: My fingers smell faintly of vanilla, popcorn eaten before I started this post.
There is a wonderful tone to the guitar on Chimney Sweeping Man. There is a slight echo to Veirs' voice here - an effect I think she must be fond of, but one that works very well with her singing voice so I cannot blame her for that. It contrasts the simple clarity of the melody nicely. I think, with a few still to go, that it is fair to say I really like this disc. Not as much as July Flame, but then it hasn't had the same crack at inveigling its way into my musical consciousness so that isn't really a surprise. Nothing here stands out quite as much as my favourite Veirs track, Summer is a Champion, but the general quality is high.
That said, there is a discordant edge to Salvage a Smile, a tightness to the strings that sets my teeth on edge. It makes for really tough listening, a screech of discomfort behind her words. Thankfully the track is short, and is washed away from my thoughts with the opening breaking waves of Blackened Anchor. This, too, has a tightness in the strings that form part of the opening swell, but here it is controlled - edgy, but emphatic and not unpleasant. It reminds me a little of the opening credits to Black Sails, which I really should get back to as I enjoyed season 1 a lot. The tune is an instrumental, and over quickly so I am into the closer.
Riptide is a simple guitar and voice effort, a nice roll to it, and a bit more depth after the first verse is done. Simple tapping percussion is a nice change, and I love her voice here. Slightly more rounded, very well fitted to the tune behind it. It is a chilled exit to the album, which has flown by. I really should look up her other works and fill out my holdings. There is just something about her take on Americana - for that is the easiest genre label to apply, if not a completely accurate one - that resonates well for me. The song leads out with a long instrumental, strings partnering the guitar and simple rhythm; the end arrives suddenly and without fuss, plunging me into the hum of my CPU and the tapping of these keys.
Laura Veirs (I keep typing Veris - darn fingers!) is great, guys. Check her out.
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