New Moon by Elliott Smith.

The sky was grey and threatening to rain this morning, so I decided I wouldn’t venture out today. I was quite content to stay indoors, listen to music and write something to pass the time. I have been listening to a 2CD album that I bought recently called New Moon by Elliott Smith. I bought the album because to my shame I didn’t know anything about him, but I kept hearing his name mentioned by other people who have spoken very highly of Elliott Smith. It is a posthumous collection of 24 songs recorded between 1995-1997 and released in 2007, four years after his tragic death at the age of only 34. Apart from three tracks all the songs were previously unreleased. Often when an artist dies, and albums are released of their work they can be a mishmash of inferior songs and half-finished demo tapes. That cannot be said about this collection which are all well produced quality songs which would have been worthy additions to any Elliott Smith album. The reason for that I think is because Elliott didn’t record for any album in particular. He recorded his songs constantly when he had completed writing them. Neil Young works in the same way. I expect Neil has a vast collection of songs yet to see the light of day. 

Elliott has a connection with Laura Veirs whom I wrote about a few days ago because from the age of fourteen he lived in Portland Oregon where Laura is also based. Portland seems to have had quite a vibrant music scene because The Decemberists who I have been listening to recently also come from Portland. I might tell you about them in the near future. When I first heard of Elliott Smith, I imagined that his music would be kind of grungy like Kurt Cobain, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find this album is in the main very folkie, acoustic and melodic. The vocals are quiet, almost whispered on some tracks. I was hooked from the very first track Angel In The Snow. The feeling that you get from his voice is of an underlying sadness. 

With the excellent guitar playing and the melancholy atmosphere I immediately thought of Nick Drake. I don’t know if Elliott was influenced by Nick, but the comparisons are obvious and the reasons for both their deaths are officially inconclusive. They both had a troubled mind that is for sure. The guitar picking on many tracks is very Bob Dylanesque. The guitar sound also is sometimes reminiscent of The Beatles from the Rubber Soul/ Revolver period. When I was listening to the second CD the Velvet Underground song Pale Blue Eyes came into my head. Elliott Smith believed in Lo-Fi which meant working quickly and not over embellishing the songs. I like that because it gives the sound a very intimate feel. If I was still young and impressionable I think the lyrics of some songs might have put me in a dark place, but now I just feel sorry for Elliott Smith that he didn’t get the help he needed to sort out his mental health problems because he was undoubtedly a great talent. 

Songs like Looking Over My Shoulder are a plea to be left alone as other people irritated him. Miss Misery (early version) is the first version of a song which was in the soundtrack of the film Good Will Hunting and was nominated for an Oscar in 1997. He would have found the experience of performing at the Oscars quite excruciating I would imagine. (See Oscar performance below) The only song not written by Elliott is an angst-ridden cover of Thirteen by Big Star. It is hard to pick a favourite song, but one I really like is Whatever (Folk Song In C) because of the great guitar picking and the chorus, ‘What are you doing, hanging around with me?’. In conclusion, I am glad I closed this gap in my music knowledge. I think this is an excellent album because of the musicianship and vocal delivery. The subject matter however is like existential dread. I think he might have written most of the songs late at night. There are no lyrics in the accompanying booklet, but I think there are scant references to nature, spirituality, love, optimism or other things that make life worth living, which I think is a shame, but on the other hand it is an honest expression of how he felt. I just think it is a pity that Elliott Smith died so young. We will never know what he might have achieved. 

Elliott Smith, Miss Misery (at the Oscars)

Warp And Weft by Laura Veirs.

Today I thought I would tell you about a CD that I bought last week. It is called Warp and Weft by Laura Veirs. Laura is a singer-songwriter based in Portland, Oregon USA and this is her ninth album released in 2013. One of the reasons I bought the album is because I saw Laura perform at Glastonbury in June, but I wasn’t paying attention. Her set only lasted forty minutes and I was either talking to people or going to the bar. However, I did like what I did hear and took a couple of photos, so hopefully this review will make up for my inattention. I read that this was her most successful album when it was released and was given very favourable reviews. 

The album title comes from the names of the two components of turning thread into fabric, which might be symbolic of weaving the music into her songs. The album is produced by her then husband Tucker Martine and features the likes of Neko Case, K.D.Lang and members of The Decemberists. Laura was expecting her second child while writing and recording this work, so I think a lot of songs reflected her fears of what sort of a world children would be growing up in. The opening track Sun Song displays her talent as a guitar player and singer. Neko Case sings harmony vocals. I believe this catchy song was released as a single. (I have shared an excellent video below). 

Laura Veirs, Glastonbury.

America is a much darker song, concerned with the obsession with guns. Finster is a great song about the Baptist minister and folk artist Howard Finster who created the sculpture park known as Paradise Garden. He even designed album sleeves for REM and Talking Heads. I’m not sure who inspired Dorothy Of The Island, but it has some quite dark lyrics and a chorus about motherless children. Shape Shifter reminds me of the starlings that I can see right now as I look through the kitchen window. There is a great instrumental passage in this song featuring violins, viola and cello. There are two short and sweet instrumentals on the album Ghosts of Louisville, and Ikaria, which I assume was inspired by a visit to the Aegean Sea. 

Say Darlin’ Say is adapted from a traditional lullaby which was first recorded by The Sweet Brothers in 1928. That Alice is a tribute to Alice Coltrane who as you know was the wife of John Coltrane who later became a swamini and founded her own ashram. The sound isn’t what you would expect though. It is more rock than jazz with swirling electric guitars. The most moving song on the album for me is Sadako Folding Cranes which tells the story of Sadako Sasaki who lived near the Misasa Bridge in Hiroshima. She was two years old when she was blown through a window when the atom bomb exploded. She died of radiation poisoning at the age of twelve. Before she died, she reached her target of folding 1,000 paper cranes from origami.

Sadako Sasaki.

The CD actually contains a colourful sheet of paper which you can fold into a paper crane by following Laura’s tutorial on her website. Sadako is remembered every year on the anniversary of Hiroshima. Watching the news these days with the war in Ukraine is a reminder of the danger the world still faces. Ten Bridges is another song concerned with the worry of the future. I think the ten bridges referred to must be the number of bridges over the Columbia river in Portland. The album ends on an optimistic note with White Cherry which has an almost Avant-Garde jazz sound which I really like. I’m glad I bought this album and got acquainted with the music of Laura Veirs. I don’t know if her long time fans rate it as one of her best albums, but I enjoyed it very much indeed and I’ll certainly listen to more of her music in the future.

Laura Veirs - "Sun Song"