Abigail Chance

The Scholar and Feminist Online, Issue 8.3 (Polyphonic Feminisms: Acting in Concert)

brittany — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:00:00 +0000

In hindsight, I probably should have waited to read all of the articles in this issue of Barnard Center for Research on Women’s The Scholar and Feminist Online journal, “Polyphonic Feminisms: Acting in Concert,” before emailing out sections that resonated with me and the work I’m interested in doing. Instead, I enthusiastically exploded the email inboxes of family, co-workers, friends, and even professors with links, starting with the thorough but concise introduction by guest editors Julie Kubala and (Elevate Difference founding editor) Mandy Van Deven, followed by lists of extensive blog and print resources, key thought-provoking and productive articles, strategic quotes, inspiring photography, and other creative projects.

On a visual level, I was first attracted to the gorgeous photographs, intriguing title (what does the musical term polyphony have to do with feminism?), and black/red/white aesthetic that is simultaneously academic, professional, creative, and approachable. There are also a variety of writing styles (poetry, conversational prose, mixed media, and theory) and a diversity of contributors (artists, healers, authors, activists, survivors, educators, students, and performers).

Regarding the theoretical content, what resonated with my own passions and work was the exploration of how the once radical idea of intersectionality has become institutionalized and conceptualized as “a remedy for exclusivity and hegemony.” Jennifer Nash (“On Difficultly: Intersectionality as Feminist Labor”) argues (echoing the thoughts of other contributors) that, “While naming difference certainly allows feminists to bear witness to power's operations, it does little to analyze the mechanisms by which these systems of exclusion are replicated and re-created.” Instead, she calls for intersectionality to be understood as “a metaphor, as one illustration of how structures of domination might cooperate to maintain their power.” A lot of what the journal addresses is about is “how to encourage dissent within communities” in order to continue challenging the forms of resistance; who is speaking, visible and accessing the circulation of radical ideas; and focusing on the possibilities and “what next?”

As the editors explain, “Polyphony, with its focus on non-hierarchical multiplicity, [is] a way to address” these issues, and I would recommend this online journal to anyone interested in joining, or at least reading about, the continual conversations about theory, activism, and the plurality of feminisms.

Written by: Abigail Chance, April 5th 2011

Secret Weirdo

admin — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Lauren Barnett

Well, for a twenty-page minicomic that is filled with embarrassing stories about childhood, cat police, imaginary adventures, and an opening page offering “free hugs,” artist Lauren Barnett definitely set herself up for a difficult task. One of her biggest pet peeves as a female artist is having her comics be called cute. “I think ‘cute’ is a terrible way to describe someone’s work,” she exclaims in one of the first frames.

Besides the political cry for gender equality in the artistic community in the first few pages, Secret Weirdo is an eclectic collection of stories (or rather confessions) about the artist’s endeavors as a secret weirdo. Barnett’s comical, autobiographical telling of her obsessive entrepreneurial ventures as a child, unusual birthday present request, sick day science experiment with a frozen egg, kleptomania, and more are interrupted by imaginative pages with the Cat Police and imaginary Adventures of Master Driver and Navigirl—alter egos perhaps?

What most attracts me to her style is the lack of pretentiousness in her art. The cover is a gorgeous abstract watercolor that is both lovely and haunting; the inside frames are made up of simple, flat, black and white line drawings, messy bubbles, and scribbled text that give it what one reviewer noted as a "draw now, ask questions later" style, almost as if she is making it up as she goes along.

While her comics might seem cute superficially, there is clearly a darker, deeper level to her appropriated cute imagery; her “adorable” childhood stories are intersected with short, anxiety-filled frames about adulthood: debt, apartment searches, the dangers of diet soda. These glimpses into her personal, intimate realm are quickly interrupted by embarrassed sarcasm, or more Secret Weirdo stories from childhood, because the reality is far too daunting to dwell on. It leaves the reader wishing for more of this darkness, but still leaving us with the knowledge that there is something else behind the 'cuteness'.

In short, even though the stories are oddly specific and personal, the ambition, sarcasm, curiosity, anxiety, and nostalgia of a child and young woman resonated with me strongly, and I recommend this minicomic to other adults and teens that can handle the occasional F-bomb and sarcasm. Also, although the styles and content are completely different, I enjoyed Secret Weirdo for the same autobiographical, humorous, deeply personal snippets of Erika Moen’s DAR! Comic, so if you like Barnett’s work, read some of this, too!

Written by: Abigail Chance, August 8th 2010

Violence Against Latina Immigrants: Citizenship, Inequality, and Community

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:31:00 +0000

By Roberta Villalón

NYU Press

I generally do not start reviews with blanket statements, but I simply cannot say enough positive comments about this book. As a student of Gender & Sexuality studies, as well as community activism and Hispanic studies, I was greatly interested and inspired by this thoughtful, critical, theory-meets-activism approach to the difficult and devastating reality of violence against Latina immigrants.

The author, Roberta Villalón, is a professor of Sociology at St. John’s University in New York City, where she is active with both the Committee for Latin American and Caribbean studies and the Women and Gender Studies Program. According to her author biography, Villalón was inspired by the corrupt, and often deadly, political regime of her childhood in Argentina, and has since dedicated her professional career to studying the harms and realities of inequality on multiple levels from institutionalized corruption to domestic abuse. With her academic grounding in political science, international relations, and sociology, as well as her Latin American/Latina focus and affiliation with various immigrants and women’s rights organizations, Villalón brings a fresh, critical perspective to the discussions of resistance in social movements, particularly activist feminist grassroots discourse and efforts.

In Violence Against Latina Immigrants: Citizenship, Inequality, and Community, Villalón’s writing/research process was mainly based on her work on the ground as an activist researcher with a legal nonprofit organization that offers free services to individuals who have suffered from domestic abuse. The clients were typically female, undocumented immigrants, a population she notes as particularly vulnerable to violence: domestic, structural, cultural, and symbolic. In her book Violence Against Latina Immigrants, Villalón combines her observations and struggles with individual clients and their processes with the complicated bureaucracy of our national immigration system, with personal interviews with staff. Even though well intentioned, the staff and general organization were often limited by funding and legal restrictions. They were therefore, as Villalón claims, forced to work within and, unfortunately often perpetuated, the oppressive cycles and systems of structural inequality, specifically in their construction of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ clients. Although the organization started from a radical, revolutionary grassroots project, many of the employees seem to be jaded, and accepted the limitations, an unfortunate although (arguably) sometimes necessary common ideological shift for non-profits when the practical issues such as funding, staff, and helping people in the immediate present are realistically addressed.

Villalón notes these frustrating contradictions and dilemmas that further the cycle and reproduction of inequality, and calls for more advocacy, networking between community organizations and policy changes that would aid this particularly vulnerable population. She calls for people, especially those with the desire and power to change policy, to “focus on the ways in which (these women) experience exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence” in order to make the “invisible, visible," while also avoiding the equally oppressive victimization narrative that would further deny their agency.

Overall, the text proves to be a critical study into the complex intersection between immigration, citizenship and violence, particularly in regards to race, gender, heterosexuality, and nationality, and I would recommend to all interested in women’s, immigrant, Hispanic, or general sociopolitical studies.

Written by: Abigail Chance, August 6th 2010

Hadestown

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:01:00 +0000

By Anaïs Mitchell

Righteous Babe Records

Before reviewing the album, I have to admit, Ani Difranco and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, who are both major contributors to the project, definitely rake up the most counts on my iTunes top played lists. Bias.

That said however, Anaïs Mitchell’s folk opera Hadestown is a masterful album in its own right, originally beginning in 2006 as a live show that toured New England with a cast of twenty-two performers. The show, and now complete album, is an impressive Americana retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that evokes a feel of Depression-era America and a doomed future in which all desperately seek to preserve their power, freedom, and riches.

Researching the mythical story a bit so I could understand the compelling narration of the album, I found that it is a love story about Orpheus, a poet who swayed Hades with his beautiful music to bring back his beloved Eurydice from the underworld. As I already alluded to, Mitchell’s ambitious, bold, fourth album is a collaborative project, with the lead singer of Bon Iver as Orpheus (my all-time favorite), Ani DiFranco as Persephone (the strong-willed wife of Hades), Greg Brown as Hades ("king of the kingdom of dirt") and Mitchell as Eurydice, the beautiful young woman seduced into Hades' underworld.

"I recognized in the Orpheus character something a lot of artists feel: his heartbreaking optimism," observes Mitchell. "In the underworld, the rules are the rules, you don’t get a dead person back—but Orpheus believes if he can just sing/play/write something beautiful enough, maybe he can do the impossible, move the heart of stone, get through to someone. I've felt that feeling..." And alas, an incredible album is born, complete with human emotion, social commentary, and an incredibly impressive artistic collaboration.

In general, the lovely Vermont singer-songwriter has a unique, eclectic style all her own, but has definitely been influenced by "the earthiness of Shawn Colvin, the child-like bite of Joanna Newsom, and the urban jumpiness of Ani DiFranco." As this reviewer continues, "These elements, as disparate as they might seem, come together as nicely as cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg" (Margaret Reges, Allmusic.com). In January 2008, I was actually lucky enough to see Mitchell play shortly after she was taken up by Difranco’s Righteous Babe Records, opening a show for the extraordinary anti-folk goddess herself.

Back to the album, Hadestown is definitely the most creative, inspired folk album I have heard in the past couple years, bringing a fresh perspective to the mythic tradition and timeless themes of power, love and desperation. Listen—to the feature on NPR or buy it—but listen to it all the way through. Even if the Americana style generally doesn’t appeal to you, and I admit it normally doesn’t for me, the inspired and compelling narration, craft, and featured artists on the album come together and truly form something magical.

Written by: Abigail Chance, May 28th 2010

Sometimes She Lets Me: Best Butch/Femme Erotica

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Edited by Tristan Taormino

Cleis Press

So, I sometimes forget that reading erotica and looking at BDSM queer porn in the library of an Ivy League university is not necessarily standard practice. Lucky for me, I go to Brown, where I’m concentrating in Gender and Sexuality studies, and have somehow managed to legitimize studying sex manuals with postmodern theory in order to (supposedly, so they say) get a degree next year. Along with my academic studies and personal intrigues, I am also active with various events and groups on campus explicitly related to sexuality, so am known on campus for… well, let’s just say, when I pulled out Tristan Taormino’s Sometimes She Lets Me: Best Butch/Femme Erotica in the middle of the bustling Science Library lobby during the mad rush of studying for midterms, I got simply passing (mostly jealous) chuckles from friends venturing down into the depths of the stacks with unread textbooks in their arms.

This exciting collection of twenty-three stories is edited by author, director, and educator Tristan Taormino, and is a part of the Best Lesbian Erotica series, which has won three Lambda Awards. Cleis Press, who published the book, focuses on queer sexualities, putting out various sex guides, gender/queer theory texts, and works of fiction.

As the publisher notes, Sometimes She Lets Me: Best Butch/Femme Erotica is about “dispelling myths, realizing fantasies, and delivering outstanding writing with distinct contributor voices.” In the introduction, Taormino expresses the desire to “queer gender throughout the spectrum,” viewing gender as multilayered, constantly changing, and problematizing the reductionist and prescriptive discourses around butch/femme identities:

Butch/femme is bulging jeans, smeared lipstick, stiletto heels, and sharp haircuts. It’s about being read and being seen. Sometimes it’s about passing or not passing. It’s about individual identity and a collective sense of community. It’s personal, political. It’s performance and it’s not. It’s the visceral space between the flesh and the imagination.

The stories focus on the separation and convergence of the personal and the political, the body and fantasy, and address some examples of what really goes on in bed between self-identified butches and femmes. As a new reader of butch/femme lesbian erotica, I was surprised about the diversity of relationships, identities and desires, and found that while some of it was a real turn-on for me, others not so much. But that is okay. In the end, the appeal of the collection is about the confidence and attitude that exudes from the authors as they own their own identity expressions, desires, and pursuits of pleasure.

Written by: Abigail Chance, April 26th 2010

Good Problems

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Summer People

Red Leader Records

Ah, spring time on a New England college campus! I always forget what it’s like when everyone emerges out of the stacks of the library, poorly-lit dorms, and stuffy classrooms to congregate on the sunny main green. Amid intellectual circle-discussions, shirtless Frisbee tosses, romantic lunches, and hipster dance parties, the upstate New York band Summer People couldn’t have picked a better time to release Good Problems, a seemingly perfect soundtrack for this cultural phenomenon.

Eight people collaborated on Good Problems, which was recorded live with no effects, giving it a gritty, authentic feel. Thirteen tracks is awfully ambitious for a freshman project, but the Summer People’s debut proves to be a noteworthy, sophisticated, eclectic mix of classic rock, folk, punk, and indie sounds. Each track evokes a completely different experience of sounds and moods, yet the album as a whole comes together seamlessly and brilliantly.

Several songs on Good Problems give the airy, folksy feel of Fleet Foxes or Death Cab for Cutie, including “Two Hearted River,” “The Other Side,” and “Curtained Rain.” With cheery lyrics, chants, handclaps, and guitar, these tracks produce a delicate acoustic sound that greatly contrast with the other, more traditionally alternative rock vibe of “Shallow Water People,” “Balcony,” and “Two Truths.” With slow buildups to loud percussion and the occasional off-key screaming, some reviewers have commented on the “bi-polar mood swings” of these tracks, and really, the album as a whole. It swings back down to a more melancholic, electric, instrumental feel with “For Giving In” and “The Sun Was Up,” which have a similar to sound to Sigur Rós- both poetic and haunting.

While not everyone will appreciate the experimental, artsy sound of Good Problems', both the messy rock tracks and the poetic mellow instrumentals match the eclectic conglomeration of warm weather gatherings, and is a perfect fit to the desperate enjoyment of the sun right before the exam time crunch. As the title of the album suggests, despite the stress, college life is filled with generally good problems.

Written by: Abigail Chance, April 18th 2010

Catch Light

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0000

By Sarah O'Brien

Coffee House Press

When I flipped over to the back cover of Sarah O’Brien’s recent collection of poetry, Catch Light, it was both startling and encouraging to see the resemblance. I was originally interested in reviewing the publication because it entailed reading beautiful writing about photography, two of my lifelong passions; however, only after holding the book in my hands and reading the biography excerpt on the back did I notice that she was a recent graduate from Brown University. A brunette woman, with bangs and a nose ring, who has traveled and lived internationally and works as a writer and photographer, I felt like I was looking at myself (hopefully) in ten years.

As I read through O'Brien's poems in one of my favorite coffee spots, I could imagine her sitting through my photography studio critiques, much more eloquently discussing the displayed photographs: the lighting, captions, titles, and content. Her collection of poetry, a National Poetry Series Winner, chosen by David Shapiro, ranges from descriptions of the history of photography and technology to a critique of light, space, captions, and how images are used and discussed as visual narratives.

O'Brien explains in an interview, “I was reading all of these manuals—how to build a darkroom, how to develop a photograph—and it only seemed natural to start writing my own... because of the inherent poetic opportunity in the images associated with photography.” Her brilliantly written poems all join together in a beautiful unity, exploring the limits and power of imagination, perception, memory, and reality, most importantly in relation to the human experience of light.

Raised on a farm in Ohio, O’Brien has since lived in Cape Town, Paris, and various locations across the United States. She got her B.A. in Comparative Literature at Brown, where she translated Ryoko Sekiguchi’s Heliotropes for her thesis, followed by a MFA in poetry at Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop. She now works as a photographer for The Daily Iowan.

Written by: Abigail Chance, February 28th 2010

Élan

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0000

By Monika Jalili

A beautiful album, Monika Jalili’s Élan evokes a romantic, and at times, haunting journey through a collection of popular, acoustic Iranian songs. The talented New York-born vocalist originally trained in musical theater, and shares her enchanting voice and love of Iranian poetry in a simple yet sincere album, which features tracks in Persian, Azeri, English, and French. Jalili’s music incorporates traditional folk songs from several different regions in Iran, and has been described as a mixing of regional, microtonal Iranian music; Mediterranean sounds; and French romanticism, a time of increased cultural exchange in Iran before the fall of the Shah.

Unfamiliar with traditional Persian music, I listened to the album without expectations and was intrigued by the intense range of emotion. The opening track, “Ghoghaye Setaregan” (Dance of the Stars), emits an intense, painful longing, while “Arezooha” (Wishes) swings more toward a subtle, French pop love ballad with delicate vocals and a beautiful cello. “Gonjeshgake Ashi Mashi” (Little Sparrow) is an epic, upbeat revitalization of an old folksong, followed again by a subtle yet dark and equally moving, "Ay Rilikh” (Separation). Toward the end of the album are two incredibly dark, dramatic, and moving tracks: “Peyke Sahari” (Messenger of Dawn) and “Ay Vatan” (Oh, My Homeland). Various regional styles are also evoked by the tracks: for instance, a Brit pop feel in “Evlari Vaar” (To Bemaan), a hint of Asian vocals on “Biya Bare Safar Bandim” (Let’s Be on Our Way), and a Mexican bolero style in “Bia Bia Benshin” (Come Sit by Me).

Some argue that this album had the potential of becoming the best world music album of 2009, but it has gone largely under-appreciated in the mainstream industry. Élan is an incredible collection because it expands the listeners' appreciation of Persian music. With traditional Persian songs infused with Jalili’s western musical training, her clear soprano and vibrato ornamentation are apparent. Some have even suggested its power as a potential anthem for the next Iranian revolution, as it revitalizes the art and music that has been silenced in the past decades. I believe you, too, will be moved.

Written by: Abigail Chance, February 27th 2010

Yakiimo

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:02:00 +0000

By Simone White

Honesty Jons Records

Sitting down with my notebook for a first listen, I adamantly tried not to get caught up in descriptions with romanticized cliché references to Cézanne paintings, sleepy villages, artsy cafes, or train rides home. Alas, I set myself up for inevitable failure listening to Simone White’s Yakiimo album riding a train northbound for the holidays on a clear, winter New England morning. Snow had just fallen; I was ending the most significant semester I had had at university; the rhythm of the album tread effortlessly with the speed of the train. It was nauseatingly perfect, and all I could do was laugh and submit to the indulgence of the cliché moment. So, I apologize.

As soon as I pressed play on the first track, “Bunny in a Bunny Suit,” as we pulled out of the Providence station, I felt as though it was a soundtrack for my journey home, physically and metaphorically. The song is fittingly about someone who has realized that she has lost herself after years of trying to change for others. For me, I was returning home, finally “pretending to be myself again.”

Regarding the sound, do not mistake the pretty vocals and poetic lyrics of the album for being shallow. It is not necessarily edgy, but definitely eccentric as the artist’s darkness subtly emerges. The tone of the album may be honest, pure, slightly melancholy, and sweet, but definitely not fragile or playful in a passive way. Its vulnerability is deceiving.

Born into a family of extraordinary creativity, with her folksinger mother, sculptor father, and burlesque-dancer grandmother, White taught herself to play the guitar and writes most of the songs on the album. The album has 12 short tracks, all under four minutes long, with acoustic instrumentation, simple percussion, anecdotes, and the repetitive driving rhythm of a personal journey. Tracks “Victoria Anne,” written about the playful memories of a childhood friend, and “Baby Lie Down With Me,” influenced by reading Carson McCullers, bring a happy, yet at times, haunting element which is further complemented by the even darker lyrics of “A Girl You Never Met,” about someone too tired to keep on living, and “Without A Sound,” which gives a detailed description of the final moments of a failed relationship.

The first two tracks, including the one mentioned above and “Candy Bar Killer,” are covers of original songs written by friends Frank Bango and Richy Vesecky, which have slightly edgier lyrics focusing more on the awkward experiences and pains of growing up. The album continues with songs about love, despair and longing: longing for an ex-lover in “Your Stop,” a school crush in “Olivia.”

“Yakiimo,” the title of the album, refers to the Yakiimo men she heard singing their “haunting songs” while selling the stone roasted mountain sweet potato, encapsulating the “emotion and subtly” she wanted to capture in her album. Inspired by a children’s counting book, “Train Song” adds a lightness to the album. The last two tracks diverge slightly from the style of the previous tracks, particularly with a more country sounding “Let the Cold Wind Blow.” White described in an interview childhood memories of her grandma singing “St Louis Blues,” the last track of the album, in a “deep throaty voice.”

White has had international success since her first album, I Am the Man, playing on stages across the globe and having her track “The Beep Beep Song” featured in an Audi car commercial. Sounding like a female Nick Drake, she also has a Norah Jones aspect to her; however, Simone White is unlike anything else in pop, rock, and folk genres. Her recently released second album is definitely worth a listen.

Written by: Abigail Chance, February 10th 2010

Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know

admin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:59:00 +0000

By Múm

Euphono Records

I have never been one to accept iTunes’ genre classifications of the music I purchase. Yes, the categories can be useful, but they never quite fit with my personal interests. As soon as the tracks are downloaded, I quickly listen to the album and decide where it fits amongst my feisty feminist punk rock, hipster late-night sing-alongs, or classical acoustic sleep inducers (to name a few). Admittedly, I am a little bit of a control freak and perhaps a tad obsessive.

On the other hand, the reductionist labeling of ‘indie’ or ‘pop’ is nowhere near as maddening as the genre given to Múm’s recently-released fifth studio album Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know: “unclassifiable.” What does that mean? Is it insulting, or perhaps, empowering by the very lack of constraints? The queer equivalent of music labeling?

Either way, the group’s new album has clearly demonstrated their ability to evolve with their effortless intermixing of guitar, rhythmic percussion, bizarre electronic grooves and eerie, smooth vocals that produces something within and above the genres of pop, folk and electronica. Arguably their most accessible album, Múm has moved away from their original pure, electronic sound to a more folksy-experimental style. Reading some of the reviews, it is clear that some fans of the original ethereal vocals of the Valtýsdóttir twins (replaced in 2007) have been resistant to the change and the group’s new whimsical, romantic sound. However, while the album definitely has a childish element, the lyrics and vocals are far from cute, with repetitive lines like: “You are so beautiful to us. We want to keep you as our pet.”

Definitely listen to the album and decide for yourself. If you are interested in exploring their earlier albums, you can stream some of the tracks on their MySpace page. While you are online, also check out their webpage to find out about tour dates, watch the music video of their track “Sing Along,” and more. Their new album has something refreshing for both new listeners and old fans alike, especially for those that are willing to grow with the group in their constantly evolving, “unclassifiable” experimental sound.

Written by: Abigail Chance, December 19th 2009

SexIs: Sex and All Things Sexual

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:05:00 +0000

Eden Fantasies

There are an abundance of websites about sex, gender, and pleasure that range from academic, theoretical discussions to medical descriptions to sexual how-to guides, and I was admittedly skeptical of SexIs, a sex-positive community devoted to “sex and all things sexual” started by online sex toy company Eden Fantasies.

Updated weekly by a diverse collection of writers (including Feminist Review founder Mandy Van Deven), SexIs features a variety of articles about aging, disabilities, kink, fetishes, politics, anatomy, "green" sex toys, contraceptives, and body image for just about everyone—including lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, straight people, transgendered folks, and those who choose not to self-identify sexually. As a Brown University undergraduate student, I was particularly interested in the excerpt from Confessions of an Ivy League Pornographer about Sam Benjamin, a ’99 alumnus who used his education to become what he describes as a “filthy but good-hearted pornographer.” In his biography, Benjamin explains his attempt to make sex positive films; however, in practice, this led to no lucrative end. In other articles, Benjamin reviews sex and women-positive projects, such as the film Rough Sex by Tristan Taormino, the only self-declared mainstream feminist pornographer.

SexIs is just one of many virtual community spaces Eden Fantasies has developed; they also have a section with interviews, a blog, and interactive forums. The content of the site reminds me of a gender-neutral discussion group I participate in called FemSex that facilitates learning and provides a safe-space that encourages individuals to gain knowledge, make self-aware decisions, explore available options, and validate their own experiences. While the SexIs' attempt to be an all-inclusive portal may seem too overwhelming or superficial to some, in the end, it creates an open space to delve into the full fluid spectrum of human sexuality. Although I question their consumerist intentions, the site is a positive space for people to learn, debate, and share ideas and experiences about pleasure.

Written by: Abigail Chance, December 3rd 2009

Jessie Murphy in the Woods

admin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0000

By Jessie Murphy in the Woods

Rex Records

While some might not be into the cutesy, fairytale-like sound and lyrics of the New York City pop-folk group Jessie Murphy in the Woods, there is no denying the magical harmony produced by the three talented women. These five tracks, a demo of their debut album Eight Belles, are a collaboration project lead by singer-songwriter Jessie Murphy (vocals and guitar) and featuring her friends Marcia Webb (vocals, Wurlitzer, flute and pan pipes) and Amy Stratton (horn, flute, percussion and organ). The trio of women, all music teachers in New York City, met at Columbia University in 2008 while pursuing a Master's degree in Music. Since then they have toured both North America and the United Kingdom.

Noted for their anti-folk style, the group tries to avoid the constraints of stereotypical, over-commercialized music with their unique instrumental and vocal sounds. With a sound less pop than similar artists, such as Au Revoir Simone and Feist, the album is a beautiful mixing of clear vocals, bells, pretty harmonies, and poetically melancholic lyrics. This combination creates an ethereal, magical, and at times, haunting quality that resonates throughout the album.

The five tracks on the album have lyrics about life, horses and love lost, especially the loss of child-like innocence, a literary theme that many can relate to. While I am more attracted to music with an edgier sound, I can appreciate Jessie Murphy in the Woods' talent. Their smooth, lullaby style makes this music an excellent soundtrack to my cooking with my dear friend and roommate Sylvia, who is a creative fiction writer and lover of fairytales.

Starting off with the sorrowful “New York City Lights,” the album continues with “In the Woods,” which invokes images of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This is followed by the simplistic, pure acoustic sound of “God Save Owen Wilson.” Finishing off with their most popular songs “When I am a Horse Again” and “Eight Belles,” a eulogy to a horse that died in the 2008 Kentucky derby, the demo is a beautiful representation of the group’s songwriting and harmonies, and well worth a listen.

Written by: Abigail Chance, November 27th 2009

Love Is Not Pop

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:04:00 +0000

By El Perro del Mar

The Control Group

While listening to the recently released album from Swedish pop artist El Perro del Mar (Sarah Assbring), I quickly realized I was being pulled into a cathartic experience evoked by Assbring's ethereal vocals and repetitive, melancholic lyrics. Starting with the track “Gotta Get Smart” and ending with “A Better Love,” the songs hold true to the healing process of a breakup, especially the desperate hold of a co-dependent first love.

As the title provokes, Love Is Not Pop is not cute; it is pain, loneliness, desperation, heartbreak, losing yourself, finding yourself, and after having wept, hope. For the artist, the album is about “the dream of a pure love in a dirty world.” Unlike many other similar artists with equally melancholic lyrics, Assbring sings her hurt, exposing a vulnerability to her listeners that is at times comforting and uncomfortable because of the intimacy it offers—and, perhaps unknowingly, requests.

“Gotta Get Smart” is undeniably the most important song on the album. It’s about the moment in time when you finally realize you’re done. This decided confidence comes through the somber, repetitive lyrics: “We’ve been together for so long. Don’t wanna break you’re heart. I’m done, I’m done thinking it over...I gotta get smart.”

“Change of Heart” and “L Is For Love” are both dominated by a sense of heaviness: dark chords, ethereal vocals, deep sighs, and a bitter tone. In the first, it is unclear whether the repeated lyrics “he will never stop” is about abuse or simply incompatibility, but the song is about realizing you cannot change the person you love, even though you may have “been dreaming for so long.” The latter is encompassed by feeling defeated “when the hope is gone." The exhausting plea, “Let Me In,” is driven by an unpleasant beat and equally anxious lyrics: “Baby open up the door. I don’t make me have to beg for love. I want to be your fool, if that’s all I’m gonna be.”

“It Is Something (To Have Wept)” is inspired by a G. K. Chesterton poem titled “The Great Minimum,” and at this point, the desperation that dominated the last few tracks is replaced with acceptance and appreciation for the lessons learned. “Better Love” marks the end of the emotional journey and the desire to be content and optimistic “til better love comes.” It is also a conclusion: “This isn’t over til I say when. When. When.” It’s done.

El Perro del Mar is currently touring North America.

Written by: Abigail Chance, November 21st 2009