Kathleen Yearwood
Kathleen Yearwood “Great Songs to Empty Rooms” cd
I love this title, and I can imagine this cd emptying rooms under certain circumstances. The tone is dark, with brittle anger and pain being the moods evoked by the sparse music and beautiful vocals.
As has been the case with nearly all of her releases, the packaging for this cd is handmade – a stiff paper cover wrapping around and stapled to a paper insert which in turn cradles a textured cardboard pocket held together with masking tape. The insert contains the following dedication, which definitely sets the tone for the music: For all the alcoholics, drug fiends and schizophrenics who listen while crying in their beds – don’t worry, I’ll go right on feeling what you haven’t got the guts to, and saying out loud the things you haven’t got the courage for. Who says you can’t convince life to love you back, even if she turned away for awhile?
The cd starts out with the French (French language, anyway)
traditional song, Entre Paris Et St Denis, featuring delicate electric guitar
and sublime vocals. Between songs are
short tracks of animal noises; chirping birds, some sort of shallow breathing,
the buzzing of a trapped fly, a purring cat, a barking dog, and then back to chirping
birds again. The most effective and
haunting of these is the fly, perhaps struggling to find and way to get beyond
a pane of glass. This seems to mirror
the content of the songs, which seem to deal with being trapped, either by
circumstances or emotions, or by injustice.
Moments that stand out for me as I write this include the end of All In All, which culminates with viola and Kathleen’s voice soaring upward and seeming to morph into the sound of a tea kettle, the haunting opening line of Song About Vancouver, “my introduction to human cowardice came too early…,” and chilling words and perfect delivery of the line, “…or that woman standing there, with dirty shoes and tangled hair, with a thousand yard stare…” while underneath it all is heard the sound of an automated phone message, “this call cannot be completed as dialed…”
The last song, Three Hated Chords, introduces noisy, distorted guitar to the mix, making it a bit more upbeat than the others.
Although the primary instrument is electric guitar, throughout the cd, there are subtle touches of harp, piano, trombone, and saxophone. Icing on a suitably bitter cake.
Heartily recommended!
www.angelfire.com/music/kathleenyearwood
www.hrmusic.com/artists/kyart.html
And now, a quick review from the young ones:
Sophie, age 5, says:
“(I like this) because she has a pretty voice like Ariel” (I'm sure Kathleen would be aghast at being compared to a character in a Disney movie...)
Willow, age 3, says: I hate this song.
