Ophelia Hope

September has finally arrived! To me, September marks the beginning of autumn - my favourite season.
And also, I have an excellent artist of the month picked out! It is with great pleasure that I bring you: Ophelia Hope!

It is rather a funny story how I happened upon this band. One day, I got it into my head that I wanted to like an artist named Ophelia. {Don't ask, I don't know. I just get these strange whims.} So, on the handy-dandy emusic searchbar, I typed in Ophelia. Unsurprisingly, there really aren't that many artist/bands with Ophelia in their name. Ophelia Hope was on the list, obviously, and once I heard them, I knew my search was over. Very soon afterward, I bought their album, also entitled Ophelia Hope.
Though Ophelia Hope is based in Bergen, Norway its members are from all over the globe. {"a Norwegian singer, an Italian producer, an Australian songwriter and English percussionist", according to their myspace.}

Defining the genre of Ophelia Hope is difficult. Their sound seems to change with every other song. I have seen them referred to as "acoustic, cinematic pop-noir" which sums it up very nicely. Since when I listen to Ophelia Hope I often get the feeling I am listening to a movie soundtrack of sorts. Only, the thing is, this [mythical] film doesn't stay within any genre boundaries either.
In my mind, I see it as being a mixture of:
1. A 90's chick flick with some despairing moments but a happy ending,
2. A modern romantic comedy with witty lines that keeps you laughing,
3. A black & white film made in the early 60's with a profound, bittersweet subject matter,
4. A brightly-coloured musical with almost childish lightheartedness.

{Am I being nonsensical? So be it!}

It's not as if Ophelia Hope is doing anything amazingly groundbreaking, but yet I find their music to be unparalleled. The more I listen to this album, the more I love it! The rich orchestration, the inflections of jazz, the pensive folk, the clever pop songs... Definitely one of my new favourite albums.

Of course, I had difficulty deciding what song to pick. Knowing that, whatever song I chose, it would in no way represent the full sound of Ophelia Hope. Eventually, I decided on 'Beautiful Tears'. So, I'll stop waxing eloquent now and let you listen. ;)




Oh, and, I am going away this weekend! Just an FYI, in case you desperately try to get in touch with me and get offended and think I hate you when I don't respond.
Ha...haha... :P

Wrapped Up in Books

My apologies for my silence as of late. My nose and I have been buried in a stack of books! I have been addicted to finding new books and putting them on hold at the library, especially this past month. Total count read so far: 44! And I still have a stack in my room waiting to be read.{If anyone is interested, I am currently reading The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley and a volume of William Carlos Williams poetry.}
So, I am posting the song 'Wrapped Up in Books' by Belle and Sebastian cause that is exactly what I am right now. {Regrettably, this song is not about a 17 year old girl who compulsively checks out books at the Library Ah, well... :P}


I am not posting this song merely because of the title, I also happen to love it. ;)
Belle and Sebastian are an essential to any indie pop library. In fact, I think they are the first indie pop band I heard of and subsequently listened too. They opened many new musical doors for me!
'Wrapped Up in Books' is off of Belle and Sebastian's 2003 album, Dear Catastrophe Waitress. The carefree, yet wistful, sound of this song seems appropriate to my mood, as I enjoy these last few days of summer freedom before school starts Monday. {*dun dun DUN*}

Listen:



Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm off to lose myself in some distant, literary land. :)

Society's Child

I remember the first time I heard the song 'Society's Child' by Janis Ian. It was about a year ago; I had been looking for new music to listen to and, for some reason, that day I was not having much luck. I was beginning to despair of ever hearing anything good again (ha!) when I went into itunes (this was before I switched to the superior emusic) and clicked on one of their "Itunes Essential" playlists. I believe it was their essential "Folk-Rock" playlist.
'Society's Child' was on the list and I started listening to it. The thirty-second preview was all I needed to fall in love with this haunting song.


Janis Ian is an incredibly talented singer-songwriter. She is also known for writing songs about taboo subjects. This song had a very controversial subject matter when it was written around 1965. {Janis Ian wrote it when she was about 13 or 14!}
The lyrics tell the sad, but not uncommon, story of a girl with an African American boyfriend. He is shunned by her mother and they are mocked by their classmates and teachers. In the end, she decides to end the relationship, pressured by everyone who says they can't be together. Janis Ian said: "You know, I don't think I made a conscious decision to have the girl cop out in the end, it just seemed like that would be the logical thing at my age, because how can you buck school and society and your parents? You'd make yourself an outcast forever." {Found here.}

To be sure, this song is not as socially relevant or as taboo as it was in the 60's, but, in my opinion, that does not diminish the anguishing beauty of it.

Listen:

Help Me! Help Me!

For the past 24 hours I have been helping my sister babysit a family {three children, all under 5} while their parents went away for a night. Well, I got there at 4:30 and I thought the parents were coming home at 12 P.M. the next day. Turns out, I had misunderstood and they were coming back at 2 or 3. "Ok," I told myself, "I can do this. No big deal." That was before the parents got stuck in traffic. We were there until 5: 15....
Now, I don't mind babysitting every once in a blue moon, but it's not really my thing. I was beginning to think I would never get to leave! Even my sister, who is a super-babysitter, was going stir crazy.
But it was fun. Really.
...
No, really it was. The kids were sweet and well-behaved. :)

I've also been trying to write a post for about a week now. But I've been vacillating between various song, reaching no resolute conclusion. Then, today, the appropriate song to post hit me: 'Help Me! Help Me!' by Lucy Schwartz. {Haha. Can't imagine why I picked that...}
To be more specific, I am actually posting the music video for 'Help Me! Help Me!' since I think it's quite cute, though not as cute as Lucy Schwartz herself. :)
Lucy Schwartz is a talented, young singer-songwriter who makes pop/folk/jazz music which doesn't sound overproduced. If life were fair, we would be hearing people like her on the radio instead of... well, those artists-of-which-I-do-not-speak.



{You can watch here, if you so desire. Since it gets cut off on blogspot...}

Azure Ray

I have returned from vacation! Actually, I returned a couple of days ago but things have been surprisingly busy. I had a wonderful vacation, though. :)

August snuck up on me. I can barely keep track of what day of the week it is, let alone what month it is. So, I was unprepared when the first of the month hit. I had no idea who to make the artist of the month. It's not like I don't have scores of candidates, because I definitely do. It's the choosing that always gets me. I politely debated with myself for awhile, trying to decide between various artists - some new, some who I have posted about before... Et finalement, I chose Azure Ray.

I recently bought their EP, November, after hearing the opening and title track, 'November'.
I have a thing for sad songs, which my family often teases me about, and this song was so marvelously melancholic; I fell in love with it, so to speak.
Apparently, Azure Ray is known for their dreamily slow, soft, and mostly sad songs. Though 'November' remains my favourite, I'd say the rest of the EP lives up to that lovely standard as well. :)
And, I just found out, that Azure Ray {Which is Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor - both excellent artists in their own right} is releasing a new album this September! Which is very exciting because they disbanded in 2004. {Needless to say, they are back together, if only temporarily.}


Listen to 'November':