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Date : 1/20/2008 -- Time : 3:19:41 PM
Artist : Carissa's Wierd
Album : Songs About Leaving
Source : CD
Year : 2002
Genre : Indie
Label : Sad Robot Recrds
Encoder : exact audio copy 0.96b
Codec : lame 3.91
Quality : CBR, 192kbps, joint stereo
ID3-Tag : Yes, Version 1 & 2.3
Posted By : Daniel! on 20-01-2008
Ripped By : Daniel! on 30-10-2007
Included : This Info-File (NFO)
Frontcover
Review
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I'm sure there's a good story behind why Carissa's Wierd purposefully misspelled their name, and I doubt a single review has been written without mentioning it. I think it's charming, but Microsoft Word vehemently disagrees and keeps changing it on me. In fact, while I'm typing this paragraph, I noticed the band name at the top of the page was suddenly changed to "Weird". Now if that's not weird, I don't know what is.
I don't know much about the Seattle-based Carissa's Wierd (dammit, there Word goes again), as both their official website and their label site have no information. But this is the third album from this band, and they have generated a significant amount of buzz despite being on some almost amazingly small labels. In fact, they generated enough buzz to have Death Cab's Chris Walla produce this album, and his deft touch lends the quiet indie-folk quartet a very rich, lush sound. Each strum of the acoustic guitar, each swipe of the violin string, each breaking vocal is intimately audible and lovely in a way that this band makes all their own.
From the beginning, as they title their opener "You Should be Hated Here," you instead feel loved, as singers Jenn Ghetto and Matthew Brooke trade vocals, adding to each other's voice beautifully as the violin swoops over brushed drums and soft guitars. By contrast, the piano- and drum-led "Silently Leaving the Room" sounds almost up-tempo despite its calm and luxurious pace. The wonderful "So You Wanna Be a Superhero" is all Ghetto's singing, subdued yet urgent under these gorgeous acoustic guitars that someone portray an intensity that's belied by its soft pace and lush production. The male and female vocals, sung together, make even an oddly titled song like "Ignorant Piece of Shit" sound lovely, as Ghetto sings, "maybe you're too good for me / everyone is getting screwed." The piano on "Farewell to all These Rotten Teeth" is downright beautiful and accompanies some very intense acoustic guitar.
Things can get a bit too quiet, however. The bare-bones "A New Holiday" is just male vocals - extremely hushed - over acoustic guitar, and the song ends up too quiet. As the album wears on, these quiet songs do tend to sound a bit alike. But then there's the strings. I am a complete sucker for the use of strings in music like this. The violin (which sounds very deep like a cello) turns many of these songs into something spectacular, such as "September Come Take this Heart Away," which is almost exclusively piano- and violin-driven over whispered male vocals. The sweet instrumental "The Piano Song" is given more life due to the mournful strings, and the two pair beautifully with the acoustic guitars on the lovely and lengthy "Low Budget Slow Motion Soundtrack Song for the Leaving Scene."
This whole album feels simply made, and the basis of the music is fairly simple as well although very lush. It adds to the charm developed by the band's odd spelled name. Lovely and intimate, these songs may not stick in your head, but they're impress you with their sincerity and desperate sense of longing. This is a beautiful album for all you indie-folk fans out there. And this band is worthy of so much more recognition.
Tracklisting
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01 (2:38) You Should Be Hated Here
02 (3:20) Silently Leaving the Room
03 (3:39) So You Wanna Be a Superhero
04 (6:29) September Come Take This Heart Away
05 (3:15) Ignorant Piece of Shit
06 (2:04) The Piano Song
07 (4:47) They'll Only Miss You When You Leave
08 (1:53) New Holiday (November 16th)
09 (5:24) Farewell to All These Rotten Teeth
10 (3:08) Sofisticated Fuck Princess Please Leave Me Alone
11 (5:17) Low Budget Slow Motion Soundtrack Song for the Leaving Scene
12 (2:54) (March 19th 1983) It Was Probably Green
Playing Time : 44:48
Total Size : 61.6 MB
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