Lake Bottom LP

admin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:07:00 +0000

The Chapin Sisters are a trio of gifted recordings artists who have managed to reinvent the love song by incorporating a touch of irony into their modern interpretation of folk- and roots-inspired pop. On their first full length album, Lake Bottom LP, the sisters have created songs that are defined by beautiful melodies and inventive take on the subject of love and all of its consequences, in the tradition of Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams, and the Be Good Tanyas.

The trio is composed of singer-songwriters Abigail and Lily Chapin, as well as Jessica Craven, and the album has a deceptively simple musical style. The lead song, “Let Me Go,” lets the listener know just what kind of treat they are in for, and “Kill Me Now” and “Can’t We Please” are other particularly memorable tracks. It is refreshing to hear an album of recorded music sung by talented singers who are capable of performing both lead vocals and harmonizing without the intervention of heavy-handed production (and choreography and light shows). I found myself singing along at the first listening, and every subsequent time I turned on the album.

Talented musicians, these women create an interesting contrast by pairing sweet and sleepy acoustic guitar with occasionally blunt lyrics that echo your thoughts after that date, that really bad conversation, that phone call that didn’t happen, or that run-in at the neighborhood coffee shop... You know the one I’m talking about.

Written by: Ruth Cameron, April 16th 2008

King for a Day

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:12:00 +0000

By Bobby Conn

Thrill Jockey

King for a Day is the soundtrack of my last bittersweet hangover, the series of samplings leading to brie and pernod, unfortunately topped with a chile beer. This means that you should get the CD, even if it does not always inspire happy thoughts. Bobby Conn is not a minimalist, and that’s why I adore him. Rock opera, ornate orchestration filigrees with pretty raw – and raw, pretty – lyrics. I’m delighted to have entered the era of the post-ironic, perhaps (or have we?), and there’s a metallic edge beneath the waxy poignancy of a song like “When the Money’s Gone.” Glockenspiels gling a glad march, and then a tune will violin segue into a rhythmic intro pound. Listeners who appreciated the arch sweep and arc of The Golden Age will find themselves on familiar ground. Michael Zerang returns for percussion. Saxophones open “Twenty-one,” an apparent depiction of a trust-fund hustler, mirror ball and cabaret presentation, but blissfully devoid of schmaltz and sentiment. “Punch the Sky” is a word insertion in the order of Ann Magnuson’s monologues for Bongwater, or the opening recitation of the Dead Kennedys’ Plastic Surgery Disasters. And who couldn’t sing, “I’ve done things, wish I could forget?"

Written by: Erika Mikkalo, April 16th 2007