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Rating: Listening to it again, I realize that much of today's good folk-pop and indie music owes (consciously or not) something to the intimate, distracted, and vaguely frayed atmospheres of this small, great folk-pop album.
Edie, a shy 23-year-old student from Dallas, released in 1989 through Geffen Records an album that would become a worldwide success thanks to a mid-tempo single with a swaying rhythm and a sad but sincere ballad about friendship with an arpeggio that's nothing short of perfect. "Shooting rubberbands at the stars" is a jewel now unjustly hidden by the sands of time; rediscover the non-trivial preciousness in the arrangements and guitar solos of "What I Am" while she asks us not to let her sink into her own thoughts. "Little Miss S." is a typical character in the (allow me the term) "Brickellian" world; we imagine her on a terribly sunny day, sitting on the small pier of a calm Midwest stream, her gaze lost in (not?) assessing her misfortunes while Edie's voice and the Bohemians' melodies seem to fraternally caress her head with sweet and reassuring notes. The nocturnal "Air Of December" is the track that made me fall in love with the album definitively... only today do I realize that the electronic backdrop reminded me of the best neo-romantic ballads of early Duran Duran, then Edie's slightly brash voice would almost theatrically break the suspended static with the urgency of a loving memory. Another excellent mid-tempo is "The Wheel" whose lyrics feature the curly folksinger trying to reassure us of our worth and supposed uniqueness. More carefree, perhaps even more Brickellian, is the joyful "Love Like We Do" where a watery guitar and drums take over the subdued atmosphere while she rhymes about the happiness of life as a couple. Then "Circle" is a small, sad masterpiece of acoustic pop on the value of solitude and the falsehood of sometimes too noisy group friendships.
The frenetic "Beat The Time" introduces us to the B-side with its somewhat programmatic invitation: "close the door and open your mind". "She" stigmatizes a girl too in love with herself to see herself really, except in the distorted, superficial, and glossy mirror of women's magazines and cold material values. Another small painting of everyday moments is "Nothing" where she tries to overcome the rubber wall of a "nothing" said under the breath, with her back turned and head down. I haven't emphasized enough the value of the New Bohemians (in albums without them she could not replicate the fresh folk naiveté, overly sophisticating the sound): they are excellent in "Now" where functional and raw acoustic guitar textures intersect, spacious keyboards (whose timbre would be considered trendy today, therefore dated), and a bass with a naked and rounded sound. "Keep coming back" is an up-tempo folk-rock cry about the end of a love with wounds still open, in fact, just inflicted: "desperately tryin' to get off my mind but ya keep comin' back!!!". The ghost-track "I Do" is the last jewel of just over a minute where the ecstatic musical intuition of this tiny pop miniature perfectly marries the quest for feeling present in the lyrics: a kind of "Sunday Morning" in a red pajama to sing while rubbing your eyes...
Ugly album? Beautiful? Trivial perhaps??
The heart knows no reasons...
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 What I Am (04:58)
I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean
Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
Religion is the smile on a dog
I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean, d-doo yeah
Choke me in the shallow waters
Before I get too deep
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or
Oh, I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean
Philosophy is a walk on the slippery rocks
Religion is a light in the fog
I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean, d-doo yeah
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what you are and
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
03 Air of December (05:59)
Thursday afternoon you cast a shadow 'round my room. The breeze moved the curtains and lifted my perfume into the air and danced with lazy curls in your hair. The sun was in the sky like pink champagne and it glistened in your eyes all day. I remember you put a chill across my face like the air of December. I swear I remember it that way. I swear I remember it. Where are you now? You stood by the lake. I wanted to take you for granted. The grass was thin and high. The water mirrored tiny sparkles to the sky. I remember you put a chill across my face like the air of december. I swear I remember it that way. I swear I remember it. Where are you now? In the by-myself mornings the birds windchime. The treelimbs crackle and the sunshine climbs up the sky like pink champagne that glistens in your eyes all day. I remember you put a chill across my face like the air of December. I swear I remeber it that way. I swear I remember it. Where are you know?
06 Circle (03:13)
Me, I'm a part of your circle of friends
And we notice you don't come around
Me, I think it all depends on you
Touching ground with us
But I quit, I give up
Nothing's good enough for anybody else it seems
And I quit, I give up
Nothing's good enough for anybody else it seems
And being alone is the best way to be
When I'm by myself it's the best way to be
When I'm all alone it's the best way to be
When I'm by myself, nobody else can say goodbye
Everything is temporary anyway
When the streets are wet, the colors slip into the sky
But I don't why that means you and I are
That means you and I
I quit, I give up
Nothing's good enough for anybody else it seems
And I quit I give up
Nothing's good enough for anybody else it seems
And being alone is the best way to be
When I'm by myself, it's the best way to be
When I'm all alone, it's the best way to be
When I'm by myself, nobody can say
Me, I'm a part of your circle of friends
And we notice you don't come around
08 She (05:08)
She glows around you like the moon. She smiles at her reflection in a spoon. She reads expensive magazines. She sees herself in eveything. You can't judge her for that. She knows where her head is at. She's tangled up in you. She's laced up in your shoe. She's got a ladder to the sky. She's got a mad look in her eye. You can't judge her for that. She knows where her head is at. She moves in simple curves. She speaks in simple words. And it's simple to be in love with her. You can't judge her for that. She knows where her head is at. You call her home and you want to move in. But a house is not a home and a home is not a house when there's not enough room for you. You call her home. Sweet home.
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