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| Track list: 1. When Debbie's Back From Texas 2. Viewed From The Spire 3. Crime 4. Fireworks 5. Proposal 6. Little Star 7. Hopefully Yours 8. Murder In The Mairyland Park 9. I See You Again 10. So This Is Goodbye 11. Something Nice 12. And She Closed Her Eyes Running time: 49 minutes Released: 1994 |
A quick change in direction now, to Scandinavia and to quiet female vocals and a very different sonic landscape. I have no idea what made me decide to buy this album, but Amazon tells me I bought it in 2007, some 13 years after its release. I do not have anything else by this artist, nor recall any other factoids which suggest why I might have thought the purchase was a good idea. From that point of view this is one of the most random things I own. When in doubt, blame LastFM. I do, however, have memories of at least three of the tracks, and remember really liking at least one, so I am looking forward to revisiting it now.
The start is an odd one, light strums of a guitar and a strangled, muted and razor thin vocal that is almost childlike in delivery. The song only gets musical at the chorus; it is a very odd way to open an album - not unpleasant, just a little... offbeat. The soft vocal is definitely a feature and it gives the impression of innocence and shyness as it continues into the next song. Viewed From the Spire is the song I remember loving, a light jazzy number that makes good evening background - you could see it playing over a panning cityscape, night lights on, waterfront view. Cliché-tastic, but a nice, simple song. I do not find it leaving much of an impression this time though.
There is a really strong tone imparted by the vocal style here - it is such that it needs a fairly slow, sparse accompaniment to not be overwhelmed and that shapes the types of song that can be crafted. In practice, what that means is that this is a very chilled album. Everything happens in slow motion and without wishing to crash into your day. I find it does not make good listening but I like what I hear - if that makes any sense at all. Yes, I am only 3 songs in, but the pattern is firmly established and if/when it gets broken it will be interesting. Fireworks begins with a much stronger guitar line - solo, and still slow, but recorded louder - until the vocal comes in and the music is dialled down on volume again, the use of sampled seabirds (or so it sounds like to me!) lend a lazy summer holiday vibe. I think I used this phrase before somewhere, but the lack of any real confidence in the singing (maybe because second language?) and the simple, repetitive patterns of the music invoke the "friend tooling around with a guitar in the corner" image. There are flashes of greater arrangement from time to time, but most of it to date has been simple acoustics front and centre.
Oh, that was unexpected; Little Star goes all, erm... something on us. Sudden harmony in the chorus that actually makes for quite a nice little sound but out of place with what has gone before. I am struggling to keep going though - two nights of poor sleep, waiting for a coat of paint to dry before I can apply another, slow sleepy music is not what the doctor ordered to keep me awake and raring to go. None of what I am hearing is bad, not much of it is particularly good. There is nothing objectionable about any of these songs, they are too simple in their construction for that; it does make them not particularly good at promoting active engagement though. I sit here considering whether to cut the whole lot. I do not have much like this, and it definitely has its place, but if all it makes me think is "nice background to tune out" then why keep it?
I like it, but I do not want to listen to it. That is an odd sentence to type, but it is true.
There is some interest in the construction of the tracks, but mostly the appeal is in the overall ambience it projects and shares with its audience. At different points I have had thoughts of Leonard Cohen and of Enya in the design of the tracks (the delivery has nothing close to either) and I think if I could bend my ear to pay attention to the almost whispered lyrics there might be some more to dissect there. There is a sense of melancholy that hangs over one or two tracks (the trumpet on I See You Again is a prime example) but it still manages to be too... nice. Pleasant. Damned with faint praise again.
Ultimately the paucity of my output here, the fact I have been staring at the screen for 2 songs without typing anything is pretty damning. I cannot see a justification for keeping this if it cannot incite a response. Unlike after noting other casualties of this process, I do not feel entirely comfortable with this decision for reasons I cannot quite articulate, but the decision is made. I cannot picture myself listening to this album again, so there is no point keeping it. Whilst it fills its niche and I do not have anything to put there alongside it, I think that the points where I was most engaged moved the theme towards an area where I do have stronger material in the bank.
The start is an odd one, light strums of a guitar and a strangled, muted and razor thin vocal that is almost childlike in delivery. The song only gets musical at the chorus; it is a very odd way to open an album - not unpleasant, just a little... offbeat. The soft vocal is definitely a feature and it gives the impression of innocence and shyness as it continues into the next song. Viewed From the Spire is the song I remember loving, a light jazzy number that makes good evening background - you could see it playing over a panning cityscape, night lights on, waterfront view. Cliché-tastic, but a nice, simple song. I do not find it leaving much of an impression this time though.
There is a really strong tone imparted by the vocal style here - it is such that it needs a fairly slow, sparse accompaniment to not be overwhelmed and that shapes the types of song that can be crafted. In practice, what that means is that this is a very chilled album. Everything happens in slow motion and without wishing to crash into your day. I find it does not make good listening but I like what I hear - if that makes any sense at all. Yes, I am only 3 songs in, but the pattern is firmly established and if/when it gets broken it will be interesting. Fireworks begins with a much stronger guitar line - solo, and still slow, but recorded louder - until the vocal comes in and the music is dialled down on volume again, the use of sampled seabirds (or so it sounds like to me!) lend a lazy summer holiday vibe. I think I used this phrase before somewhere, but the lack of any real confidence in the singing (maybe because second language?) and the simple, repetitive patterns of the music invoke the "friend tooling around with a guitar in the corner" image. There are flashes of greater arrangement from time to time, but most of it to date has been simple acoustics front and centre.
Oh, that was unexpected; Little Star goes all, erm... something on us. Sudden harmony in the chorus that actually makes for quite a nice little sound but out of place with what has gone before. I am struggling to keep going though - two nights of poor sleep, waiting for a coat of paint to dry before I can apply another, slow sleepy music is not what the doctor ordered to keep me awake and raring to go. None of what I am hearing is bad, not much of it is particularly good. There is nothing objectionable about any of these songs, they are too simple in their construction for that; it does make them not particularly good at promoting active engagement though. I sit here considering whether to cut the whole lot. I do not have much like this, and it definitely has its place, but if all it makes me think is "nice background to tune out" then why keep it?
I like it, but I do not want to listen to it. That is an odd sentence to type, but it is true.
There is some interest in the construction of the tracks, but mostly the appeal is in the overall ambience it projects and shares with its audience. At different points I have had thoughts of Leonard Cohen and of Enya in the design of the tracks (the delivery has nothing close to either) and I think if I could bend my ear to pay attention to the almost whispered lyrics there might be some more to dissect there. There is a sense of melancholy that hangs over one or two tracks (the trumpet on I See You Again is a prime example) but it still manages to be too... nice. Pleasant. Damned with faint praise again.
Ultimately the paucity of my output here, the fact I have been staring at the screen for 2 songs without typing anything is pretty damning. I cannot see a justification for keeping this if it cannot incite a response. Unlike after noting other casualties of this process, I do not feel entirely comfortable with this decision for reasons I cannot quite articulate, but the decision is made. I cannot picture myself listening to this album again, so there is no point keeping it. Whilst it fills its niche and I do not have anything to put there alongside it, I think that the points where I was most engaged moved the theme towards an area where I do have stronger material in the bank.
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