For my triumphant to blogging, I've chosen a really spectacular album to be released on Tuesday and my review to go with it.
Laura Veirs is a truly spectacular musician and this album is a little more rockin' than her previous ... 8! But it's so good. So intelligent and a great palate cleanser, in case you thought most of the music being made these days is self-absorbed and lame.
Tuesday marks the release of Laura Veirs’ ninth album, Warp & Weft on her own Raven
Marching Band Records. Written during her second pregnancy, the album is, as
Veirs says, “an exploration of extremes -- deep, dark suffering and intense, compassionate
love.” There is an upfront simplicity to the album that is endearing and
attractive. Veirs’ generally raw and imperfect vocals are much more polished on
this album, but still have significant lightness contrasting to the craft and
presence of the rest of the instruments that give it interest and credibility.
It’s the craft and intelligence of this album that are most astonishing.
A prolific musician, Veirs is joined by other giants of
indie folk fame on this record – Jim James (My Morning Jacket), kd lang, Neko
Case (The New Pornographers) and Brian Blade (The Fellowship Band and studio
jazz drummer) amongst them. Together they create a tapestry of sounds and
colors blurring the lines between Veirs’ thoughtful lyrics and the inventive
instruments surrounding them. The album’s title comes from a weaving term referring
to the two kinds of threads used to create a piece – the warp being the
stronger, horizontal threads that form the framework for the whole and the weft
being the lighter vertical thread that creates the color. Which part of the
album is the warp and which is the weft is up for debate, but what’s certain is
there is an intricacy in design and a continual balancing of sounds and themes.
Characteristic of Veirs’ music, Warp & Weft prominently features instrumental breaks in nearly
every song and one track (“Ghosts of Louisville”) is only 29 seconds of
instruments and wordless voices. The opening track of the album will be
familiar to anyone who’s walked into a Starbucks recently as “Sun Song” has
been on regular play and showcases Neko Case’s recognizable voice in the
background. The album then moves from one up-tempo tune to another, but this
time “America” is characterized by lower guitar tones and darker lyrics. The
sounds of this track are striking as well – organs, distorted guitars, keys,
and some choruses as well. The third track is a tribute to Howard Finster – an
American folk artist and Baptist minister whose mission was to spread the
Gospel through his paintings and garden museums. He’s come to be also a pop
icon for his collaborations with R.E.M. and the cover art for their Reckoning album. The Veirs’ tune
“Finster Saw the Angels” is a simple & beautiful reflection on Finster’s
life and work – tender and honest it asks “Finster saw the angels, why can’t I?
Oh, Hand of Love, come guide me.” The track has strong blues influences, with a
great breakdown in the middle, that hearken to Finster’s southern background. The
album again takes a darker turn in “Dorothy of the Island” where Veirs’ reworks
Clapton’s “Motherless Children” as the chorus lamenting “motherless children
have a hard time when mother is dead,” especially poignant as Veirs’ was
pregnant with their second child at the time. In the seventh track, “Say
Darlin’ Say,” Veirs’ vocals finally take a prominence and clear leading,
appropriate with the simple structure of the tune, but it definitely opens up
and rocks out, ending with a grand deconstruction of all the sounds where
literal bells and whistles hearken back to a wild west landscape. And there are
handclaps. Who doesn’t love a good handclap section? The album closes with a
swinging jazz tune reminiscent of some of Solomon’s words of wisdom “Even in
the lean times/I take pleasure in the wind chimes//and in the moments of
excess/I try not to overdo it.”
In a world where so much music produced talks only of
personal feelings, momentary crises or sheer nonsense, it’s invigorating to
listen to Veirs’ songs of real people, legends outside of herself, and
universal existential musings. In a genre typified by cynicism and
self-interest, it’s refreshing to hear an honest, humble voice. From a purely
musical standpoint, the production of Warp
& Weft brought to the table by Veirs’ husband and longtime collaborator
Tucker Martine is of the highest quality. All the sounds are pure and crisp,
even the distortions are delivered well and not compromised. The structure of
the songs is traditional, but the sounds and themes are unusual and twisted. This
is a very intelligent album and a pleasant surprise.
By the way, Veirs’ & Martine’s son, Oz was born on May 2nd.
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