She who invented words, and yet does not speak; she who brings dreams and visions, yet does not sleep; she who swallows the storm, yet knows nothing of rain or wind. I speak for her; I am her own.― In the Night Garden, the first volume of The Orphan’s Tales.
There are certain works of fiction that I truly admire. Not just as stories but for their structure, so it is with the twin works of In The Night Garden and Cities of Spice and Coin forming master storyteller Catherynne Valente’s The Orphan’s Tales. The story is a tapestry woven togather of traditional chapters and passages lile this
THE BOY GIGGLED. HE SAT PRIMLY ACROSS FROM THE GIRL NOW, NOT nearly brave enough to attempt to touch her again. She laughed, too, a low, quiet sound in the dark. Her eyes drifted up through the cedar boughs, black hawks darting towards him and away again. They were nervous now, skittish and afraid of Dinarzad’s thunderous steps which surely were not far off. There was no supper to distract them, only the two, eager to tell and eager to hear, awkward and unsure, terrified of discovery.
In the night, which cantered towards morning like an eager mare, he inched closer to her, and urged her not to stop.
The girl drew her breath inward and began again, with her voice of waving willows bordering a dark lake. — The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden
You can either devour them by reading them all the way through and I know some people prefer it that way or you can do it the way I did just take them in small pieces, savouring them as you go along. It’s your choice.
in the meantime, Gary has the most excellent music has been reviewed. Why don’t you go take a look at it before you see what music is this time?
The title of This Too Shall Pass, the third album by Norwegian jazz rockers Red Kite, hints at personal challenges faced by the band and its members. I found the album to be a bracing mix of heavy rock and top notch improvization. ‘The original band members all shared backgrounds in rock and metal, but also were inspired by progressive jazz artists like Alice Coltrane. It makes for some highly entertaining explorations, even as the members work their way through some heavy emotions.’
‘Jake Xerxes Fussell’s music is a balm in troubled times,’ I say in my review of his latest, The Old Beloved Path. ‘It’s not just his drawling, honeyed vocals, or the nearly uniformly languid tempos, or his unhurried, uncluttered but precise guitar finger picking. For me at least, it’s the way his songs provide a glimpse into the lives of Americans long past through the eyes of an artist firmly grounded in the present moment. Collectively, these songs seem to say, “Times are hard? Yeah, they sure are, but folks have always struggled, and singing songs like these is one way they have found the grit to carry on.” Perspective with no preaching, I guess you’d say.’
Next up I review Little White Cross from Washington state singer songwriter Margo Cilker. ‘It’s a country folk album of a very high order, worthy of mention in the same breath as some of her inspirations like Guy Clark, Willie, Waylon, and the Flatlanders. The spirit and lives of working people in the West drift through these songs like dust and tumbleweeds.’
Kris Davis Trio’s Lost in Geneva is one of my favorite jazz albums of the year. ‘She’s a world class composer and she grapples with lots of amazing ideas, all of which she is fully capable of exploring. She often is described as a percussive player and she is, but she’s also able to muster great nuance. And both are in ample display on Lost in Geneva. And when I found out that she’s frequently inspired by bird song … well, case closed.’
I enjoy a good global music comp because they lead me into a deep dive into music I often know little about. Such an album is Slovakia: Folk to Global. ‘The folks at CPL-Music always do a good job with such compilations, and this one’s no exception. In 17 tracks it covers a wide range of current folk and folk influenced music from the region, made by musicians from Slovakia (mostly) and Chechia (a little bit).
Leonard Cohen wrote any number of memorable songs but perhaps the most fitting in honour of him upon his passing this week is ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ as performed by him at the Beacon Theatre, NYC on the 19th of February 2006. The unusual take on a well known story from the Christian faith is matched perfectly by his gravelly voice.
