I’m
starting my second four day weekend in a row and it feels pretty good. The key
to a good long weekend is to have fun with friends, try something new, and plan
for some quiet time to recharge the batteries. If you can sneak in an Oxford
comma along the way then all the better.
Disc 1185 is… The Story
Artist: Brandi
Carlile
Year of Release: 2007
What’s up with the Cover? It’s a book. Please do not assume from the frayed edge on the left that I have mistreated this album. I take care of my CDs and my books. That effect was put there by the original artist.
How I Came To Know It: I had heard about this album a
few times but it didn’t grab me the first time I played it. Then I got into
Brandi Carlile through her latest release, “By the Way I Forgive You” (reviewed
back at Disc 1135) and dug through her collection in reverse. This time “The
Story” not only stuck, I was deeply impressed. I bought it that weekend.
How It Stacks Up: I have four of Brandi Carlile’s six studio
albums. Of those four, I put “The Story” in at third. I wish it could be
higher, but competition is fierce.
Ratings: 4 stars
Brandi Carlile’s “The Story” is a critical darling
and as a result it started off on the wrong side of my iconoclastic nature. It
didn’t take long to win me over, however.
Most successful artists are lucky to have either
great songwriting ability or superb vocals. Carlile has the rare gift of both.
Her vocals have the ability to be both evocative and powerful. So many
powerhouse singers just belt it out but lose the emotional content in the quest
for landing a perfect 10 at the vocal gymnastics. Carlile never seems strained or
insincere, even when she is cutting loose.
Her style is a mix of indie folk and power pop. On her
folksier side she reminded me of Patty Griffin and her pop voice has a thunderous
warble similar to Sia. Either way it feels like your hair is being blown back
when she opens up.
On the songwriting front she is not alone; longtime
bandmates and collaborators the Hanseroth twins are part of that success. That
said, my favourite songs were just as likely to be written by just Carlile as
to be a collaborative effort. In this way she reminded me of Emmylou Harris,
fully able to do it all herself but naturally drawn to work with others. Based
on the results on “The Story” she has this mixed approach just right.
On my first listen I found myself approaching “The
Story” as a concept album, likely influenced by the promise of the title. While
“concept album” would be a stretch, the album is heavily themed to the ending
relationships. “Breakup Album” is probably a better moniker although I have no
idea if Carlile was going through one at the time of writing the record. I
could have looked into that, but great art should stand on its own merits, not
rely on biographical crutches.
“The Story” meets this test and then some and regardless
of Carlile’s personal life I expect a lot of people have wallowed away in grief
listening to this record on a rainy afternoon and having a cry. I hope it
helped process some things for those folks. Great art does that too.
I had no need to wallow, but I was still affected by
these songs and their relentless heartbreak. The grief and loss of the subject
matter juxtaposed with Carlile’s confident vocal performance is a perfect match.
It is like she is pulling herself through by pure strength of will, and taking you
along with her.
The lyrics on “The Story” weren’t quite as
compelling for me as more recent Carlile albums (“By the Way, I Forgive You”, “The
Firewatcher’s Daughter”) but that’s more a signal about how much I love those
records than anything missing here. While the title track is solid, my
favourite bit of storytelling is found on “Turpentine”
which begins:
“I watch you grow
away from me in photographs
And memories like
spies
And salt betrays my
eyes again
I started losing
sleep and gaining weight
And wishing I was
ten again
So I could be your
friend again
These days we go to
waste like wine
That’s turned to
turpentine
It’s six AM and I’m
all messed up
I didn’t mean to
waste your time.”
There is a great building of longing here, with the heart
pining and the head firmly on the hamster wheel until – inevitably – a drunken
phone call gets made. Both the music and Carlile’s delivery climb and fall
through the reverie, excess and regret in perfect waves with the words. Drunken
phone calls are a mainstay of music, but it is nice to see a sympathetic
explanation of how people get there. That said, don’t let this song influence
you unduly – don’t make that call until the morning! By then you’ll have
sobered up and won’t want to do it anymore, and that’s a good thing. But I
digress…
There are many other standouts on the record but
space – and the attention span of the modern reader – being limited, I will
refrain from waxing poetic over them. Instead, you can read about them below in
“Best Tracks”. The internet loves its lists.
There are times when this record strays a bit too
far into power pop for my liking, but those times are rare and even then I must
yield grudging respect to Carlile’s chops. My only other criticism is Carlile’s
decision to put a “hidden” track at the end of the record. This has the effect
of making the record’s final song “Again
Today” 10:38 long, with over two minutes of infuriating silence before the
very lovely “Hiding My Heart” comes
on. So lovely, in fact, it deserves its own track.
Apart from this, “The Story” is a must have if you
love well-written music, and don’t mind a little pop mixed in your folk. Don’t
be afraid; a little sugar helps the grief go down easier.
Best
tracks: Late
Morning Lullaby, The Story, Turpentine, Wasted, Have You Ever, Josephine,
Cannonball
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