Things just work out sometimes. Was I familiar with Marisa Anderson before hearing about this LP, which at the time, was still a few weeks away from making it's way out into the world? I wasn't, but "Evolutionary Jass Band" is name that doesn't leave the back of the mind, and a when followed by "Tara Jane O'Neil", who I've been known to travel from central Arizona to Southern California to see play for a mere twenty minutes to a room full of under-appreciators, I felt an interest being appropriately prompted.
There's a local shop that does well with getting at least a copy or two of things which are released on Mississippi Records, so I patiently waited for it to pop up there, and sure enough, in time it was spotted, propped up on one of the wall racks, clearly visible from the entrance, across a sea of miscellaneous bins, the A to Zs. I recall telling Jared, who was working that day, how excited I was for it, that I somehow knew I would love it, even with just the smallest of details: that she's just sort of free-forming it, guitar and lap steel, with no vocals or overdubs. Why these facts make it seem like it would be so appealing, is because they themselves are quite appealing traits, ones that, to me, testify to an inherent honesty to what would be offered.
Somehow or another, our conversation was derailed, and it ended with me jogging out to my car, returning with a CDr of Blind Willie McTell's "Atlanta Twelve String". I had every intention of leaving right away (why else jog?), but I decided to stay for the first few songs, which sounded great throughout the store. It should be noted, however, that I don't think there's much of a setting in which "Atlanta Twelve String" would not sound quite wonderful. ...it was four songs in or so when I allowed myself to leave, and picking up Marisa's LP - my eye caught the last song on the A side, "A Dream of Willie McTell".
I've played "The Golden Hour" about 30 times so far, and I'm not sure if I've been able to let it completely soak in. Every single time: it sounds fresh and exciting to me, though in the way that it can keep me calm, it's soothing but without being polished. She plays, very much, like a human being. She plays from the heart, is honest.
Pleasantly raw and devoid of any mile marker, these recordings could have come from any time in the past 70 years, with just the most marginal moments of guitar-based discordance, subdued feedback or drone (most notably on the first track, "Drop Down"), that may let you in on the secret (that this is more on the younger side of things than not). But even at that, I instantly recall on "Atlanta Twelve String", one of the most simplistic and straight forward numbers finds Willie stating "Kick it Six" at the end of a rotation, following it with just a few seconds of this noise, which I'm not even entirely sure how he created on his instrument, but sounds like the sequential plucking down the area where the strings leave the neck, about to be caught by the tuning knobs - an approach which has much more correlation to modern day than anything on "The Golden Hour".
Still though, I am no expert in this area of music, and hardly have the experience one gets when devoting much listening time to the likes of John Fahey or Jack Rose, both of who I know enough about to confirm that other's observations of likeness, are fair ones to be made. Perhaps it's important to throw a dart, a frame of reference is always nice, and it would be a shame for someone who would love this to not even know that they should be going out of their way to check it out.
Regardless: all of that has nothing to do with myself, nor how I feel about these pieces. It feels like a chore to even mention anyone else's name, to be honest. I don't like to do it, I don't want to do it.
I'd rather type on and on and on about how, from one song to the next, Marisa's work here is just downright beautiful examples of communication from someone who has perfected the ability to use her tools to speak. Sure there are indeed no vocals on this record, but it's saying plenty, and listening quite a bit as well - retelling stories to which there are no definitive characters, no plots carved in stone, no guarantees of any happy ending, only that things will be conveyed honestly, with soul, with pieces of the performer intertwined, with the ability to sway you just plenty. This is really something rare, something special, and is not to be taken for granted.
0 comments:
Post a Comment