Thursday, October 31, 2024

Record of the Month

I figured I'd do a monthly 'what I'm listening to' kind of thing. This could be viewed as a lame placeholder kind of post. And probably it is. But it's my blog! So there!    


I kind of get excited about a new release from Laurie Anderson.  That said, you have to reset expectations. She truly has few albums where she sings.

Most of her work is talking. Storytelling. Performance Art storytelling at that. The art comes not just from her stories or their telling, but the multi-dimensional music that comes with those. 

Her new album, Amelia, is about Ms. Earhart and her attempted flight around the world. 

This idea has been in Anderson's work process for about 24 years! Upon first hearing the first iteration, the conductor asked if Anderson wanted things different - she told him to play it faster, so it would be over sooner. She described it as a 'cacophony'. 

The project was shelved and reworked multiple times over the years, but ended up resulting in this 22 track (but only 34 minutes) of art. Most tracks are a minute or less. Only a few are two or three minutes long. 

Still, this is an amazing piece of art. It's as much art as it is music, if not more so. 

The music, the strings are excellent. Even the electronics. Mostly the latter adds to the former. A few times it's a very slight distraction. Anderson has used both strings and electronics side by side her eni

Is it fully factual? No.Not completely. Anderson uses Earhart's flight log information, telegrams to her husband and some radio transmission as her guide. 

Anderson is much more of a performance artist than a singer. Even with her "singing albums" it wasn't truly singing. Here most of the voices are hers and most of them are spoken word. I read somewhere she did about 20+ voices - narrator, Earhart, various voices over her radio, etc. She really only "sings" on "Flying at Night". 

Obviously, this is not an album that would get any radio airplay. Maybe 03:00 on some NPR station. It's not one you'd listen on repeat either, though repeat listens have been good. Just not in a row. 

The album is beautifully written and put together. The sounds and words are interesting  - all of it drawing you in. The music getting darker on the last part of the record, as you might expect. But the arrangement and orchestration are just wonderful. 

It's unclear how much, if any, of the violins were done by Anderson. This is more orchestration and not a solo art piece for her. 

I say, "give it a try". It's 34 minutes of your life. 

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