I got home from work, late as usual, to find a delicious stir fry waiting for me (Sheila looks out for me). There was also a CD in the mail. Jeffrey Martin’s “Thank God We Left the Garden”. Martin made honourable mention on my top 10 list for 2023.
This next record was from 2021 and while it didn’t make that year’s top 10, I still liked it a lot. Let’s explore further, shall we?
Disc 1704 is…If I Could Make It Go Quiet
Artist: Girl in Red
Year of Release: 2021
What’s up with the Cover? Just your basic little girl in a field of flowers, if that little girl was powered by NIGHTMARE FUEL. She may be lurching toward you awkwardly through the back garden because she wants to give you a big hug but trust me when I say don’t let it touch you.
How I Came To Know It: I would have discovered this album during the pandemic, which was all a bit of a blur. I am guessing I read a review. Apparently, there is a song from this record that was a radio hit, but that wasn’t how I heard it, since I don’t listen to the radio. You know, because the radio sucks.
How It Stacks Up: This is my only Girl in Red album, so it can’t stack up.
Rating: 3 stars but almost 4
Girl in Red is the stage name for Norwegian singer-songwriter Marie Ulven Ringheim and while she is in no way creepy like the girl in red on the cover, she does have a healthy dose of anxiety. I say “healthy” because Ringheim used the record to explore that anxiety in its pure and uncut form and the result is surprisingly reassuring. By opening up about her own inner turmoil, she gifts listeners with the realization that they, too, are going to be OK.
This message was timely when the record was released in April of 2021. In case you don’t remember, April 2021 was very “make it go quiet” indeed, with deserted streets and COVID lockdowns the world over. At a time when we thought we needed some sugary reassurance, Girl in Red gave us what we actually needed: something you could dance around to, alone in your apartment, all the while providing a companion to our dark thoughts that said, “hey, it’s hard for me too.”
Nothing summarizes the experience more than the album’s first track, and (reportedly) its biggest hit, “Serotonin”. The song speaks to clinical anxiety and in the process, becomes a salve for anyone suffering through isolation and uncertainty. As with many of the songs on the record, “Serotonin” doesn’t provide a solution, but it explores difficult and challenging mental states.
“hornylovesickness” starts off sounding more lighthearted, talking about how sometimes you just want to get laid but trust me, it gets dark fast. The song has a Lily Allen style bounce, but the undercurrent explores the loneliness of the road, the bad choices we sometimes make when we’re lonely, and the people we hurt in the process.
My favourite song on the album is the upbeat. “You Stupid Bitch.” The title sounds like an insult, but it is really a wakeup call to remember to love yourself. This song is danceable fun, of the arm-flailing/jump in place variety. That’s a great kind of dancing, although obviously better if you aren’t on a crowded dance floor where you’re liable to knock the glasses off of someone dancing close by. Once again, perfect for a pandemic lockdown. Situate yourself well clear of any free-standing lamps and vases and let ‘er rip.
Melodically, the album doesn’t create any new genres, but it uses the structures of pop music in innovative ways, and features arrangements and production decisions that are artfully chosen; lush but deliberate.
Lyrically, it is a far cry from complex poetry, but Ringheim makes it work, if for no other reason than her willingness to match the raw simple words with urgent, emotive tunes that want to create a mood rather than tell a story.
I enjoyed having a chance to explore this record again, and I’ll be pulling it off the shelves more often as a result. It is the recurring gift I get from these reviews – a chance to slow my insatiable desire for new music and slow down enough to appreciate the flowers. And in this case, the strange and surprisingly wonderful girl in red standing among them.
Best tracks: Serotonin, hornylovesickness, You Stupid Bitch, Rue
No comments:
Post a Comment