Album Reviews – Page 76 – The Light Appears

Marissa Nadler – July (2014)

Posted on August 31, 2014August 31, 2014 by Michael

I had never heard of Marissa Nadler before seeing her album review on Pitchfork way back in early February. What initially struck me about it was the stark album cover, a mostly black cover with a woman standing in front of a window. I wrote the name down and ordered it after I kept hearing about how good the album is… but then didn’t get around to actually listening to it for a couple more months. Why do I even have a blog?

July is Nadler’s sixth album and it is mostly as stark as that album cover. Acoustic guitar is the main accompaniment to Nadler’s country-like singing tones which at times can swoop like Patsy Cline. There is desolate yet dreamy atmosphere throughout, a trend which gets acknowledged in the title of “Was It a Dream”. “I’ve Got Your Name” could soundtrack a David Lynch movie scene – “Riding back to Massachusetts, couldn’t even see from snow, the road was studded in Christmas trees”. A deep regret of a past relationship comes through in both “Anyone Else” and “Holiday In”.

Records that sound like this are usually tailor made for summer evenings, sitting in backyards and staring at empty fields. July is different; it feels like it was recorded for winter nights, even if the title thinks differently. The backing vocals in “Drive” sound like a Northern wind blowing right through the song. As I sit here on this Labour Day weekend, the traditional end to summer where everyone clears out to their cabins, the empty town in “Dead City Emily” rings true. It’s hard to be a sleeper of a record when every publication has name checked it, but as the nights get colder and duvets start getting pulled out of the closet, Marissa Nadler’s July is a special one to have on your record player and clasped close to your chest.

9/10

Album Reviews

First Aid Kit – Stay Gold (2014)

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Michael

“And the only man you ever loved, you thought was going to marry you, died in a car accident when he was only 22, and then you just decided love wasn’t for you” The touching lyric from First Aid Kit’s 2012 single “Blue” shows the poignancy of the young Söderberg sisters. Old souls, wise beyond their years and every other similar cliché can be thrown their way. Still just 24 and 21 years old, Johanna and Klara are already veterans of the music industry – having had #1 records in their native Sweden, performed with Fleet Foxes, rubbed shoulders with Connor Oberst and Jack White – Stay Gold is their third album in four years.

There is a 70s country slickness to much of Stay Gold. The core band on most songs, the sisters along with Benkt Söderberg on bass and Niclas Lindström on drums, is often augmented with an arm’s length list of string and guitar players. This never dilutes the songs or drowns them in syrup; instead they add a classic feel to tales of escape, looking over New York City, and road weariness. The galloping drums and quick wordplay of “My Silver Lining” gets the album moving right away and later on the harmonies shine through brightly on “Waitress Song”. The title track’s vulnerable chorus is a knockout – “What if our hard work ends in despair, what if the road won’t take me there, oh I wish for once we could stay gold”

While the tracks take on a more personal feel than past efforts, they contain a universality that are easily relatable. “Now I can’t believe that it’s been five years, since we both stood here looking out at this city, with minds so bold and thoughts so clear”. On their first release for Columbia Records, Johanna and Klara absolutely stay gold throughout.

8.5/10

Album Reviews

A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Sea When Absent (2014)

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Michael

Ashes Grammar, the sophomore release from Philadelphia’s A Sunny Day in Glasgow was a yearend highlight in 2009. A year later, the dream pop band followed that up with the excellent download album Autumn, again… then disappeared for a few years.

With band members now spread throughout the world, Sea When Absent was a more collaborative effort built from emailing tracks back and forth with producer Jeff Ziegler helping put things together. One noticeable change is the intertwining of vocals Jen Goma and Anne Fredrickson that get pushed up in the mix. This helps give many tracks a more focused sound than previous efforts and can often sound like a more ethereal Sleigh Bells. But even though you can hear the vocals, the lyrics are often still a mystery, like the best Belinda Butcher moments for My Bloody Valentine.

The laidback summertime lushness of “Crushin’” is as sweet as honeysuckle. “MTLOV (Minor Keys)” is pure pop with a sped up Ronette’s drumbeat that makes it dance floor ready… If the dance floor was your front porch at 2PM, drinking vodka lemonade, and watching cars go by. “The Body, It Bends” is an ocean of sound. An acoustic guitar powers the song before the synths washes everything over before horns suddenly appear 2/3rds of the way through.

Some of the only discernible lyrics appear on single, “In Love With Useless…”. “Don’t Stop, sometimes I feel so happy, I’m love with useless”. It’s this joy runs through the entire album. Making the complex sound simple and the hazy sound focused, Sea When Absent is A Sunny Day in Glasgow’s best work yet.

9/10

Album Reviews

Sharon Van Etten – Are We There (2014)

Posted on August 2, 2014 by Michael

A few months ago when the Winnipeg Folk Fest line-up was announced, keen music fans immediately jumped for joy at seeing the name Sharon Van Etten listed to play the Big Blue @ Night stage. Since releasing her debut in 2009, the New Jersey born, Brooklyn based musician has been busy touring and putting out an album once every two years. 2012 proved to be a breakout year for the confessional singer songwriter as the Tramp album received wide spread acclaim.

Self-produced album, Are We There, continues Van Etten’s style of very emotional and raw lyrics over spare instrumentation. If you cynically rearrange the song titles of the last three songs, you discover a theme that runs through the album – “I Know” “Every Time The Sun Comes Up” “Nothing Will Change”. The lyrics can be bleak and this hits a fever pitch on the six minute “Your Love Is Killing Me”. “Break my legs so I won’t run to you, cut my tongue so I can’t talk to you, burn my skin so I can’t feel you…” When reading the lyrics, it can feel like listening to your actress friend dramatically telling you about a recent break-up… that you can’t relate to at all.

But if you sit and only half listen to that friend and start to hear the rain hitting the window pane, the cat scratching the door, distant laughter from down the hallway, and start thinking about your own life, suddenly the world starts to open up. The strings on album opener “Afraid of Nothing” are a bit more dramatic the fifth time around and “Taking Chances” is a classy take on 80s adult R&B. “I Know” contains the best vocal on the album, as Van Etten’s voice swoops and cracks along to just a piano. Somewhere Carole King is nodding approval. Are We There closes with “Every Time The Sun Comes Up” which lets in a little smile with the lines – “people say I’m a one hit wonder, but what happens when I have two? I washed your dishes but I shit your bathroom”.

Somehow it wasn’t until reading the lyrics then discarding them that the album came alive. Snippets started to shine through. “A couple years later when I saw you making western moves… you always believed in me and I always believed in you”. Van Etten lays everything bare on Are We There; even while showing much vulnerability, it’s her power and strength that you will remember.

8/10

Album Reviews

The Doors – Strange Days (1967)

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Michael

About ten months after their landmark self-titled debut landed on store shelves, The Doors followed it up with Strange Days. As noted in virtually all writings of the album, most of the songs had been written around the same time as The Doors but had been passed over. The two singles that appear here need no introduction and will be familiar to anyone with access to FM radio – “Love Me Two Times” and “People Are Strange”.

The title track starts things off with swirling keyboards, including a moog synthesizer played by one Jim Morrison. This leads into “You’re Lost Little Girl”. It’s one of those tracks that proves why Greatest Hits don’t always tell the full story. The haunting little pop song with a beautiful vocal by Morrison has been lodged in my head for days. “Unhappy Girl” and “My Eyes Have Seen You” are pure psychedelic confection. The disc is broken up halfway through with the ugly spoken word track “Horse Latitudes”. And try as it might, eleven minute album closer “When the Music’s Over” doesn’t quite reach the mesmerizing heights of “The End”.

While the debut is rightly regarded as the classic in The Doors cannon, Strange Days is only a half-step behind. While not a smash hit at the time, it has since gone on to have sold over 9 million copies. 1967 was one of the greatest years in rock history, and this is just one more reason why.

8.5/10