The Complete Kismet Acoustic - Jesca Hoop

Track list:

1. Silverscreen
2. Summertime
3. Out the Back Door
4. Seed of Wonder
5. Enemy
6. Love Is All We Have
7. Intelligentactile101
8. Havoc in Heaven
9. Reves dans le creux
10. Money
11. Love and Love Again
12. Paradise
13. Worried Mind

Running time: 56 minutes
Released: 2012

I don't recall what got me into Jesca Hoop. I mean, I remember that it was Undress, but not the whys of picking up that album. I loved it though, and still do, although to be fair my epiphany wasn't that long ago... maybe 2 years tops? It wasn't until late last year I got around to ordering more older material though, including this one; I haven't received the physical disc yet - sourcing is apparently an issue - but the digital auto-rip will do!  It is a first listen for me too... digital buys not usually getting dedicated play when they are grabbed.

The opening guitar is not quite what I was expecting... a touch classical. The vocal reminds me of Lisa Hannigan, and someone else I cannot immediately place, in its tone, breathy and close. When the chorus hits, it is more reminiscent of the Jesca Hoop tunes that first engaged me, and overall its a gentle start, but Silverscreen feels like it goes on too long at least twice; it fakes an end then finds a continuation.

I am hoping this listen will put an end to my listlessness. The past few evenings, and all day today (it's Saturday) I have done nothing of note, not feeling like I want to do anything. Brain won't countenance thinky things, body (and the woeful winter weather) not supporting ideas of doing anything more active. I pine for what Hoop is singing about now... summer; I would take spring. I dislike the dark, I care not for the cold.

So far there hasn't been any of the really cool use of rhythm that sold Undress to me utterly. Instead these seem more traditional songs, less creative, less sure. The guitar has a nice snap to it, and there is a lively beat to Out the Back Door, but it feels... young? Uncertain, following more than leading... this tune is a step up from the first two though in terms of more than a passing interest. Hoop's voice here is light, also reinforcing the feeling of youth - though I'm pretty sure she was not that young when this was recorded.

I start to hear some themes and tells that tie this to the other material I am familiar with. Nice use of lyrics outside of traditional line structures, for instance, was one of the features that made me fall in thrall of Hoop's songs, and her vocal style really supports this approach, apparent sharp short breaths punctuating long stretches with constant vocal, hold-overs with long notes as the tune catches up. I like the way it draws my ear in, I like the way it stands out, and the sense of falling forward, onward ever after.

I have had an odd start to the year one way or another, and I feel a little all at sea with 2018. I have been finding it hard to focus my mind right outside of work, which has eaten up the odd evening too. Sleep has been hard to come by, waking early regardless of what time I bed down, not wanting to crawl out into cold mornings. I have been more or less constantly tired... except when I was ill, when I felt sparkier than I had been for a while. Life is odd, as I say. I am finding this album soothing and a little soporific. I don't mean that it is boring me, but that it is relaxing. The single guitar is clear and tuneful, but also soft and repetitive. The lone female voice not always urgent... those long lines absent from some songs, lapsing into repeated choruses.

Looking down the track list at the start of this listen - which is a nice break from "Complete" works - I had hopes for Intelligentactile101. Based on the name alone I figured this would be one of the less conventional tracks. There is a child-like aspect to it, a playfulness to the simple melody. That said it also feels a little underdone, like the structure really needed a bit more (most noticeably percussion) to make it work. I suspect I might prefer the original version. Like Undress, The Complete Kismet Acoustic is a re-take of another album. I don't (currently) own Kismet but I think its fair to say that I will soon. I didn't own Hunting My Dress first either.

This line here to break up the sadly uniform paragraph structures.

Sad that I had to do that, but I haven't been flowing with ideas for short, snappy insights relating to the music. It feels like I have been listening to this for a very long time, but I am only just over half way through. I think this is probably more a statement on how restless and unsettled I have been feeling more than a stick to beat the album with though. Anyone who has read one of these posts before will be aware that I am never keen to over-criticise first listens - not that those people exist.

Ooh, Hoop has gone for French. I think I have another version of Reves dans le Creux on another disc, I vaguely remember having to rip it from physical media. Yeah. Snowglobe. I really like the effect that songs in foreign tongues can elicit, I am reminded of Julie Fowlis' Gaelic, or Regina Spektor lapsing into Russian. I don't think its pure exoticism, I think it is more the change up.

Money has more to it, there is a little more instrumentation here, another layer, and more interest as a result. This has the air of a track that could grow into a favourite, even if at the same time it seems to flout the premise (I doubt that all these extra sounds are acoustic). There is a hint here of the playing with rhythm that sucks me in every time I hear the undressed version of Tulip, for example. It's not as pronounced here, but there's a cool to it all the same.

As the music falls back into a more sparse and less immediately engaging pattern, I find myself thinking this doesn't really work as an album. Tonally something like Money, but to a lesser extent things like Out the Back Door and Intelligentactile101 too, don't sit well alongside noodle-y little songs over classical-style guitar sounds. I find myself wondering whether the same applies to the non-acoustic original. I will be able to hear in due course.

At Swim - Lisa Hannigan

Track list:

1. Fall
2. Prayer For The Dying
3. Snow
4. Lo
5. Undertow
6. Ora
7. We The Drowned
8. Anahorish
9. Tender
10. Funeral Suit
11. Barton

Running time: 39 minutes
Released: 2016

So a second interlude in the midst of the DiFranco discs. This arrived before Astronaut Meets Appleman, but I didn't get to it before the latter arrived, so At Swim got relegated. It has now been sat around, un-listened to, for over a month.

I was trawling around online looking for new music and saw that Lisa Hannigan had a record out. I raised an eyebrow - whilst I loved Sea Sew, I found Passenger much less interesting. However I looked into it, to find that this album is produced by Aaron Dessner of The National whose work on This is the Kit's Bashed Out I liked a lot. Sold, then. Now to find out if that was wise...

It opens with a gentle little strum, and then a typically husky intonation from our singer. It is a laid back beginning, low key and approachable. Ooh, a swell and a hint of harmony in the vocal; pity it comes on wandering, directionless notes not in more defined lyrics. That said, the general tone of this first track is a big winner for me. It harks back a little, more reminiscent of Sea Sew than Passenger for me. Before Fall ends I find myself getting impatient for the close, but that did not manifest until the denouement so I don't hold too much against it. I'm sure the second track will be cheerier... oh, wait. No - it matches the title in tone.

The reasons for the sparse September around these parts are many and varied. From business travel to Boggle, family to fatigue, spending to... exercising? I am trying to shake some of my overall inactivity in favour of a healthier approach. Time is yet to comment on the merits or longevity of this idea. I find Prayer for the Dying quite tiresome on initial exposure. It sounds as though there might be something of interest there, but it is buried in the supporting sounds if so. The vocal is drifting, the pace plodding and my overuse of alliteration is annoying even me by now. This is a candidate for the chop, but as with other things in the past I don't feel that ridding myself of tunes I have given no chance is helpful. It might be a grower.

Ah! More like it. Snow has a simpler sound, and a hushed, whispering singing that feels like a caress to my ears, gently drawing attention away from the nice but muted melodies that hide behind Hannigan's song. I love this woman's voice when she uses like this - all soft edges - it has a soothing quality. The synergy with the rest of the composition is pretty great too, in particular the way her tones interweave with the piano part in the arrangement. Its glorious how my ears did not know which to follow, drawn keenly to both. If this isn't the stand out track from the album I will be very surprised.

I am feeling good about the purchase at this stage - actually I think Snow probably justifies it outright for me. It is not a complete retread of old ground. The general sound of these tunes is different from either of the other albums I have thanks to changes in the arrangement - Dessner's impact perhaps? I like that it is so, for as much as I love Sea Sew, a retread offers nothing (and a retread of Passenger would be forgettable I suspect). It isn't all great, but there are some great moments.

Undertow is an odd track. I suspect it is a grower. My initial response to it is not positive, but there are elements there that I really like - the staccato strings, the general progression of the backing that provides the rhythm and structure - and I think with a few listens I might appreciate other elements of the sound more. That said, by the end of the piece it felt a little repetitive and I am glad when the next number reverts to piano to support Hannigan's ethereal singing. Her vocal style glides over and under and around the tune, which left to itself is nice distraction but no more. The song finishes rather abruptly - or it feels like it does to me, at least.

It is not a cheery album, not a bit of it. Any uplift comes from the enjoyment of her voice and the occasionally light touches of the keyboard. Pace is generally slow, funereal even, and tone is primarily sombre. This does not prevent it from having moments of real charm. There is a spot in We, The Drowned where the arrangement is left to it that is wonderfully tuneful, peaceful and absorbing.That tune is replaced by an a capella number which showcases some unusual harmonies and choices in terms of the singing. I am not sure what I make of it. On balance I am probably glad when a more expected song structure returns for Tender. Having said that the slow tempo and downbeat nature of the songs is starting to wear on me a bit.

There is real beauty in her singing, and I can hear touches of class in how the pieces have been put together. It feels really well crafted more than anything. However the darkness of the tones starts to grate after a while. What it needs is another Snow to pull up the rooting doubts. However a song titled Funeral Suit was never likely to be the shot in the arm I was after, and indeed it isn't; more of the same - nicely sung, nicely played, nicely put together but overwhelmingly morose. I think I would enjoy this more in bitesize installments rather than as a full meal. They say the album is a dying art, as good as dead, even; maybe I am finally starting to see it that way. Or maybe I am just tired; that seems more likely.

To say the last song is cheery would be misleading, but it doesn't have the same tones that have grown to irk me. There are some nice uses of electronics here too - it has a very different feel, actually and does work as a nice closer, cleanser, even uplifting things. The key line is crucial to the lightness here, but it is the electronic percussion that makes the track - a really significant part of the arrangement, front and centre in its usage but with subtle application in that despite being the thing that most draws my ear it never dominates. Most importantly it synchronises darn well with everything else used.

I feel much better about the album after that final track. Two standouts then, but if asked to pick I would have to chose Snow every time. Hannigan returned, I am happy for that, but I doubt I will consume all of this in album form again; maybe once in the car to try to let the other songs grow on me, perhaps...

The Cake Sale - The Cake Sale

Track list:

1. Last Leaf
2. Vapour Trail
3. Black Winged Bird
4. Some Surprise
5. All the Way Down
6. Too Many People
7. Good Intentions Rust
8. Needles
9. Aliens

Running time: 34 minutes
Released: 2006

I am pretty sure that the main reason I picked this up was because I really loved Lisa Hannigan's Sea Sew. The Cake Sale is a charity album by a mostly Irish congregation of other musicians. Hannigan is joined by Gemma Hayes (whose debut Night on My Side was a staple of my university years) and Neil Hannon (of The Divine Comedy) in terms of other artists from my library, and many other who I don't have work by. Damien Rice wrote one of the tunes. However I am sure those were happy coincidences, and it was Hannigan whose work convinced me to pick this up. The songs appear now and again on a shuffle and I never recognise them when they do. The 2006 date apparently was Ireland only, it being released almost a year later in the UK. Huh.

Enough irrelevances, on to the tunes.

We start with Lisa, a husky vocal intro. There is a soul to the singing that I rather like, but the minimalist arrangement in the first minute or so leaves something to be desired. It becomes a more enjoyable piece of music once we get a little more instrumentation. It's still fairly light, giving her hushed voice a lot of space in the verse, then building the support through the chorus, led by a piano melody in one instance, strings in another. Simple little tunes, but very welcome. Then the piece is done and we're on to the next. Vapour Trail is bland to begin with, both in the tune and in song. It sounds like an understated TV theme tune for some dull suburban show, and fails to grow on me as it goes. The arrangement is flat and the singer just does nothing for me. It is not actively unpleasant but it offers me no hook, nothing to get into. Its wallpaper music, lift music, fill silence with something everyone can tune out music. Characterless.

The tempo and tone to Black Winged Bird is similarly dull, but the clear chime of the piano keys offers a small amount of depth to it which has the effect of making it feel so much better than what came before. The vocal is also more appealing - apparently the lead singer of Swedish popsters The Cardigans, though I would never know from the sound. The voice soars over the melody in a nice clear duality, a contrast that helps lift the piece. Here the backing grows through the song, too, becoming richer and, whilst it never rids itself of the whiff of the generic, it at least grows to an enjoyable climax. When it finishes we are served up a stripped back number, with a voice that sounds really familiar. Snow Patrol's lead, apparently, duetting with Hannigan again. Funny though - I never got into Snow Patrol, but I did to their other big collective effort (this time mostly Scottish) The Reindeer Section. However that isn't really where it sounds familiar from. Funny how the human brain can mix up so many different things. For all that waffle (the song has gone), its a dull track.

Oh how navel-gazingly trite. Gemma Hayes' effort here is so waifish and fragile that it evokes the same kind of reaction I had to her third album - ennui. As mentioned above, her debut was a real favourite for a while - it had personality, emotion - including this fragility, but going beyond it. The follow-up had its moments too, but by the time the third came out it felt like an almost broken shell was all that was left. This tune grows in the arrangement before it ends, but it never gets beyond disappointing.

Disappointing seems to sum up this collection thus far as the next tune falls into the trap of featurelessness and a sense that you couldn't pick this out from a line up of acoustic indie tunes. The vocal is alright, I guess - which is about the most positive thing I have ever had to say about Glen Hansard, who at one point seemed to be about the most overrated thing on the singer/songwriter scene. At this point I am hoping that Hannigan's Rice-penned tune and Hannon's offering redeem the purchase, though it hasn't been a complete washout, because Lisa Hannigan; her voice is one of those I hear and just enjoy.

Needles has a slow tempo, a sombreness that is very Rice. I think the application of backing "oohs" threatens to overwhelm and ruin the understated vocal, Hannigan singing at barely above a whisper, a sense of gravity that matches the stately pace. Those chorus oohs though, they are awful. Completely destroying the pleasant ambience of the verse. There isn't anything particularly special about the track, but it is solid in a way that earlier offerings on the disc have not been. You couldn't say this was any less generic than some of the other tunes preceding it, but it is more solidly built around its theme. That bloody backing track aside it was a nice tune.

We end with Hannon singing about Aliens for 6 and a half minutes. He sounds almost stereotypically Bowie-like in places here, a weird fragility and affected delivery. I was never a Bowie fan and I am sure they would all be appalled with the comparison. The song is... well lets just say it isn't in danger of rescuing the album for me. I rather like Hannon's voice, I rather like his willingness to fit into different roles, genres, styles for his work. I don't even mind his Bowie impression, but frankly songs about Aliens need something compelling to sell them and that is really lacking here. Likewise songs that push 6 minutes need something to maintain engagement for that long. Lacking here. It does offer me the sop of long lonely notes - almost like a certain Icelandic post-rock group who I won't name for fear of running the tags too long - but even that is not enough to save it. The denouement starts some 40 seconds before the end and all it does is draw out the same dull loop a little longer, slower and more dull.

Overall then? Not at all what I was hoping. I genuinely like the first track, and a couple of others had their moments but... weak. Really weak. There is a sense of self pity, a downbeat nature to the disc which - given the title and the fact it was a charity record - is pretty much the opposite of what I would have expected. An utter disappointment.

9 - Damien Rice

Track List

1. 9 Crimes
2. The Animals Were Gone
3. Elephant
4. Rootless Tree
5. Dogs
6. Coconut Skins
7. Me, My Yoke and I
8. Grey Room
9. Accidental Babies
10. Sleep Don't Weep

Running Time: 67 minutes
Released: 2006

Sheesh, this is the best part of a decade old now, and there has been nothing of note since. Wikipedia suggests even this second effort was only at the record company's insistence. Looking down the track list stirs some memories. 9 crimes evokes strong memories and in times past I found solace in the fierceness in Rootless Tree and Me, My Yoke and I. I wonder where those memories will stand once I listen anew?

Mind you I remember some dross too, and the 21 minutes assigned to the last track suggests a whole heap of silence before a disappointing secret track (I don not remember if there is one). I hate that practice, by the by. Aside from being outdated in the digital age, it was never a reward for the listener, it was a penalty of having to put up with playing a silent track.

Why it did not appear before 9 Dead Alive in this list I do not know. WMP and its crazy ways. Amusingly Damien Rice apparently gigged with Rodrigo y Gabriela, too.

The gentle keys that start 9 Crimes immediately put me in the right mood for this. On this track, I am sure, my memory will be lived up to - although I find Rice's voice a bit off for some reason when it makes its entrance before it smooths out. There is a pleading quality here that reminds me of past times and low feelings if not specifically the relationship trouble it seems to hint at. The song is over before it has begun and I almost want to restart the listen.

I always hated the line "I love your depression and I love your double chin". It feels lazy, it feels trite. It feels like filler. Yeah - I was never a fan of The Animals Were Gone. Musically it does not inspire, lyrically it feels like a whine. A kind of pernicious whine at that... eating away at friendships by claiming to be hard done by. It is probably not a fair criticism but its the one that comes to mind. It is the kind of song that makes the idea of Rice being pressed into making this record ring true. And yet... and yet.

Elephant reminds me of Amie, from O. Apparently it was originally The Blower's Daughter part II, but it feels like it has more in common with Amie - and that puts it on the side of songs I like (not that I dislike The Blower's Daughter), even though again the lyrics feel forced in places. Admittedly I have not listened to O for a fair old while and so the comparison may be made on the basis of false memory.

Ah, gratuitous swearing, where would we be without you? Yeah I am not looking back with any pride on taking pleasure in the obscenities screamed out during Rootless Tree. It is hard to deny there is power in the delivery though and the overall effect is still cathartic. The more aggressive vocal works with Rice's voice to make a pretty compelling sound, but there is no repeat of the solace that I used to find in the tawdry "f*** you" refrains. It sits particularly badly with just having heard that my niece is in hospital after an accident and that may scupper their family holiday plans. To which end I need to pause now.

Phew. Picture through, she's OK and smiling, though going into exploratory surgery as I type. Fingers crossed for a full recovery. Nowhere I can get to to offer support, alas, other than to be on the other end of a phone.

The high points stand out pretty far on this one. Rice is more compelling when imparting anger. A slightly tinny sound ruins Me, My Yoke and I but it is the tune I remember, and so the three pillars that supported this album when it came out all seem to be in place still. In between is a bit of a mix. I missed Dogs (which I recall liking in the past) and Coconut Skins (which I never cared for) amidst thoughts and worry but I heard enough to not go back through them again specially.

I cannot get into Grey Room, although it has a couple of nice moments and then it gives way to Accidental Babies which, despite being a piano tune of the sort I tend to like, I find dull as anything. The playing seems flat, the vocal uninspired and the general sparse, slow and gentle tone is such a let down after the white hot burn of earlier tracks. The harmony on Sleep Don't Weep is better at making the quieter track more interesting but not much more so. The song eventually peters out before the 6 minute mark and so to the 15 minutes of guff added on the end; ambient sound gives way to a piercing warbling note which is really quite unpleasant. The effect is eerie but uninteresting, unsettling and uncomfortable. It is anything but clever and actually worse than several minutes of silence leading in to a secret track would have been. The tone eventually changes but does not improve and does literally take up until the 21 minute mark. What a load of complete tripe; pretentiousness and audience hostility summed up in a couple of wavering notes.

It is severely tempting to trim my library of several of these tunes even before I subjected myself to that outro but I shall stay my hand for now as I am not keen on partials for wholly irrational reasons. Made more irrational by the fact I have been ripping content to cover up some partials, whilst creating more (though admittedly only for singles which only contained several versions of the main track). Yeah - that provides the answer to my dilemma below, which means until I get through this project any random plays are going to have a higher level of frustration and skipping than before.

I just realised I never mentioned Lisa Hannigan, though she appears in the labels - she collaborates here as she did on O. I do like her voice a lot. Oh well. Bigger things to worry about tonight.

... Waltzing Alone - The Guggenheim Grotto

Track list:
1. Philosophia
8. A Lifetime in Heat

Running Time: 8 mins
Released: 2005

I do not know where I picked this up from and can only suspect one of 2 things:

1. A free download from LastFM; or
2. Sample music that came with WMP on a new PC sometime in the past.

I only have 2 tracks from the album, and listening to Philosophia for what I thought was the first time, but which LastFM suggests is actually the 10th in 6 years, I wonder if I should not pick up some more.

It is genre-tagged as folk; I am not sure that fits. They have a pleasant sparse, lo-fi sound though, and as A Lifetime in Heat starts I am reminded of Nick Drake by the softness of the vocal. There is nothing like the same level of craft here, though.

I also had no idea where the band were from until I Googled them. Ireland makes a lot of sense as they fit snugly with the quieter moments of Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan. I could see them providing a reasonable soundtrack to a chilled evening lounging around somewhere. However I think I will pass on getting any more... there is not quite enough interest to warrant a purchase.