Monday, November 8, 2004

Eveningland I have been hypnotized by Hem's new album Eveningland. The cutout bins are filled with bands that couldn't match the brilliance of their first album. But Hem managed to add something special and exceed the already-magnificent level of Rabbitsongs. Their new album is gentle and lush and magnificent, and pours out sweet and slow like honey. The music sherpas at Paste Magazine describe Hem thusly: An angel who suddenly discovered she could sing, a pianist who puts words in her mouth and two men who know guitars don't have to play chords and mandolins don't have to play bluegrass. It sounds overblown, but really, you have to hear them. The beginnings of this band are as mysterious and unusual as their music. If you haven't heard the story, go here. Or go find one of the 500 retellings of the legendary lullaby tape. Rabbitsongs is a revelation musically: a little oboe here, a little French horn here, and all around it Sally Ellyson's amber-hued voice rolls and floats like smoke. Eveningland stretches the pallete further, adding haunting string arrangements from the Slovak Radio Orchestra. The album is stronger and also more intimate - the strings don't push, but rather envelop the songs like a velvet shawl. They remind me of Hooverphonic's string arrangements on Blue Wonder Power Milk. (Do you know the album? No? Go get it, deprived peasant.) The musicians seem more confident, too, taking more chances and adding layers, glockenspiel, pedal steel, the briefest snarl of country twang guitar on "Jackson." (Note: "Jackson" is a song you may have heard before. It is a completely different song here.) I cannot describe Sally's voice adequately. Sometimes she whispers, like the hushed vocals of "The Fire Thief." But she seems to be more confident this time: she saunters her way through songs like "Dance with Me, Now Darling" and "Pacific Street," and she delivers full-throated vocals on several songs, notably on "Redwing", which has become my favorite song. This is an astonishing song, the kind of inspirational anthem that Martina McBride wants so badly to do. You can almost hear a little Martina in her voice, but Sally knows the difference between belting a song out and raising your voice, and she raises her voice with authority the way few can do. I love this album. Go buy it now. Don't wait for Christmas, because you'll need it before then. 8:08:44 PM     comment []

Conventional Wisdom, and What You Can Do With It By now, you know that the rumors of the youth vote failing are poppycock.  Youth voting was up significantly, and the increases in swing states - where GOTV efforts were strongest - were most noticeable.   If you haven't convinced yourself yet, check here and here.  More bullshit to debunk:  this election was not won by the "moral majority."  The so-called values crowd didn't make a difference.  Read Paul Freedman's excellent piece in Slate explaining the numbers.  It turns out that the election was about fear, but not fear of the hommasexuals, but fear of terrorism.  You know, Osama.  Who we still haven't found. But some people think the Dems need to figure out how to talk about values, and I wholeheartedly agree.  Paul Krugman (who also punctures the values-majority bubble) considers how progressives can talk about values convincingly in his most-recent column. If you want more suggestions on addressing the morality of progressive values, may I suggest Jim Wallis' excellent Cry for Renewal, which can be found here.  7:11:36 AM     comment []