SOUNDTRACK: KATHLEEN EDWARDS-Voyageur (2012).
This is Kathleen Edwards’ latest album. And every time I listen to it, it gets better. Her songwriting has reached amazing heights. The lyrics are wonderful and the melodies are just outstanding. “Empty Threat” (“I’m moving to America…it’s an empty threat), opens the disc with a bouncy acoustic guitar and, eventually, a full band. The lyrics for “Chameleon/Comedian” are wonderful: the juxtaposition between these two ideas is just amazing—each verse gets more complex. I would quote them, but the whole song is great. And, amazingly, the “I don’t need a punchline” is easy to sing along to as well. “Soft Place to Land” is a nice ballad—a full band that never gets overwhelmed by any of the instruments—the violin adds a nice texture as do the military drums mid way through. “Change the Sheets” is one of my favorite songs of the year. It starts out slow, with simple guitars and more great lyrics. As it builds (of course it builds) it grows into an amazing bridge/chorus that just dares you not to tap your feet.
“House Full of Empty Rooms” is like a minor palate cleanser before “Mint.” “Mint” opens like a classic 70s rock song (Bad Company or Tom Petty), but she brings in her unique voice and phrasings and changes the song into something very different. But again, that chorus–how can you not sing along to the catchy/voice-breaking chorus after the minor key verses? The tension builds wonderfully. “Sidecars” is a fun poppy track (“You and I will be sidecars, we chase down the hard stuff”).
“Pink Champagne” is a five-minute piano ballad. It’s more akin to her earlier more country songs. It’s a wee bit long but never overstays itself. It’s followed by “Going to Hell,” which features some great screaming guitars in the midst of more delicate singing. “For the Record” closes the album with a seven minute slow burner. It begins quietly, and builds and builds–never the ecstatic heights–but with a chorus that is as catchy as it is mournful.
I have this CD in my car and every time it comes up, i just can’t stop listening.
[READ: June 18,2012] I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth
I received this limited (autographed!) chapbook from The Walrus when I re-subscribed recently. That’s pretty cool. It has been sitting around because I thought it was a much longer piece. When I received the latest issue of The Walrus, and saw that the same story was in there, well, I realized that this was just a short story and could be polished off pretty quickly. The issue of The Walrus also told me that this story is a kind of follow-up to The Robber Bride.
I have never read The Robber Bride (I like Atwood quite a lot and yet have never read her most iconic books!). So I would never have known that this was a sequel (of sorts). As I said, I don’t know The Robber Bride, (and hope to read it maybe this year). I don’t know exactly how it ties to the novel (the first line of the Wikipedia entry tells me that the three main characters are the same), and given the tone of the story, I assume it is simply catching up on them some twenty-five years later.
In this story, Claris, Tony and Roz (who are all women, I didn’t realize that right away) are going for their weekly walk in the woods together (because it’s good for you and Roz hopes to increase their cellular autophagic rates). Tony and Roz bought (from a shelter) a dog for Claris called Ouida. Ouida is a wild terrier mix (who hops on Roz’s orange coat and leaves footprints).
It quickly becomes apparent that Claris is something of a hippy—organic, vegetarian, communing with spirits and whatnot. Claris just had a dream about Zenia. Zenia (who I assume is in The Robber Bride, because why wouldn’t she be), was a woman from their past. She stole a man from each one of them—with varying outcomes in each woman’s case. Zenia died about twenty years ago but she has come back, Claris believes, to tell her about Billy.
Zenia stole Billy from Claris many years ago and they left Claris alone in a house with many murdered chickens. But now Billy is back and he has moved into the other half of Claris’ duplex (on Clari’s suggestion). Roz and Tony are not pleased. And neither is Ouida, who growls at Billy whenever he sees him.
The story is pretty full, given its length. It really packs a lot into it and, even though I haven’t read the source material, I felt like I was right there with them (and now I want to see what happened Then—I hope this story didn’t give it all away). The ending is very satisfying—funny, a little weird and with good closure and seems to be everything that I have come to expect from Atwood. I must stop putting her off!
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