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Disc 1431 is…. Come & Go
Artist: Hilary Grist
Year of Release: 2014
What’s up with the Cover? Hilary sits resplendent in perfect light. I assume the light is perfect because this is essentially a studio shot, giving it a bit of a high school yearbook feel.
How I Came To Know It: I think I read about this album back in 2014 in a folk magazine - maybe Penguin Egg? Anyway, finding it in the local record store was damned tricky. As it turns out, impossible. Grist’s Christmas album is always kicking around but of “Come & Go” I saw nary a copy.
Then I was digging through Bandcamp and found her account where…once again…I didn’t see the CD for sale. However I kept checking in and eventually, there it was. I snapped it up. That was just a few short months ago, meaning I looked high and low for this album for a good six years. I’m dogged like that.
How It Stacks Up: This is my only Hilary Grist record, so it can’t really stack up.
Ratings: 3 stars
After the experimental craziness of the Fiery Furnaces on my last review, Hilary Grist’s mainstream indie pop stylings were quite a culture shock. Fortunately, I had multiple listens to acclimate before sitting down to write this review.
There is precious little weirdness on “Come & Go” and that’s OK. Grist may be a very straightforward songwriter, but she’s talented at what she does. Many of these songs may sound like you’ve heard them before, but that’s just because Grist has a natural knack for a melody.
Grist had me thinking of a number of artists as I listened, particularly Taylor Swift, which they stylistically resemble in many ways (particularly the folksier Taylor Swift of 2020’s “Folklore”). “Come & Go” is not the masterpiece that “Folklore” is by any stretch, but I make the comparison as a compliment. Grist’s songs don’t have the natural storytelling of Swift’s, but they hold up well on their own, more as emotional explorations than as a narrative.
Grist’s vocals are bright and pure, with a rich comforting tone like a cup of warm tea on a winter afternoon. I wasn’t overwhelmed by the lyrics themselves, but Grist has a great delivery that draws you in regardless. Her head and chest voice are equally strong, with the former airy and sweet, and the latter filled with easy power.
The production is very much down the center, without a lot of surprises either in the mix or the arrangements. I expect this could bug a snobbier music critic, but I just like good songs played well, so it suited me well. I suppose I would have preferred a little more guitar and a little less piano, but that’s just me. I like my indie on the folksier side, and “Come & Go” lands time and again on the pop side of the ledger.
Grist also reminded me of fellow Canadian chanteuse Melissa McClelland, and like McClelland’s earlier stuff tends to throw in different musical influences here and there as though she’s trying on clothes. The Queen-like guitar solo on “Waltzing Matilda” and the whimsical stage-show piano riff on “Chemical Reaction” come to mind here. I liked both well enough, but they didn’t dig in like they could have, feeling more like secondary flourishes.
On “Fall to Pieces” Grist gets her somber on, but even then, it feels like a positive moment (the song’s refrain is “I won’t fall to pieces”). Like most of the album it is more uplifting than edgy. If you want feel all sad and morose, go grab some John Moreland; you won’t find it here.
My favourite track on the record is the lighthearted love song, “With You”. It is more than a bit sugary, but so sweet you can’t help but enjoy yourself. When Grist hits the high falsetto in the chorus you feel 17 and giddy with joy all over again. I should probably be embarrassed that I like this song but damn it, there’s a pandemic on and we could all use an upbeat, no-frills love song.
With its dreamscape piano and lilting elfin vocals, the final track on the album, “In Dreams” reminded me of Enya, minus all the overdubbing. It is also a final reminder that while the album stays solidly in the mainstream, it dabbles with a lot of different sounds. I liked it overall, although at times it left me longing for a deeper dive into styles Grist only dips a toe in.
Best tracks: Come & Go, Damned, Fall to Pieces, With You, Goodbye Ghost
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