Marian Call
Vanilla

Okay, stop what you're doing and pay attention.  It's not often that you get the opportunity to meet an artist like Marian Call, and I want to make note of it so that years from now you can recall where you were when you first heard that name.  Hailing from the great northern outposts of Alaska, Marian Call is the export Alaska has been waiting for to top Jewel.

If you're looking for a popular comparison for Marian Call, the closest I can come is Nellie McKay.  Marian Call's primary instrument is the acoustic guitar rather than the piano, and she uses irony more than overt anger to get her point across, but her songwriting skills are in the same class.  To add to all of this is the voice.  Marian Call has a warm voice that sounds equally superior in either alto or soprano ranges.  Her sound is unique enough to become iconic in time.

Vanilla is an amazing debut.  There is not a weak track go be found on the CD.  The music is diverse and dynamic and flows like an album should. Marian Call is very much in control from start to finish.  Fret is the opening song, about the guilt the singer feels about not returning feelings in kind to a suitor.  The lyrical construction of the song is amazing, and is typical of the songs on Vanilla.  Call has a singular ability to tell stories in her songs that are part stream of consciousness and part careful confessional.  The twists and turns of lyric are those you'd expect from an accomplished lyricist, and are surprising and delightful from a newcomer.

The Volvo song shows the vocal range and dexterity of Marian Call, as well as the complexity she can create riffing on a simple melody line.  This is currently my favorite track on the album, but the favorite keeps changing. Flying Feels Like displays Call's willingness and ability to take musical risks with melody choices.  The decidedly dark minor-key verses resolve into uplifting major key choruses that betray the singer’s true ambivalence.

Be sure to check out Sunday Afternoon and I'm Yours, the latter of which had "wedding song" written all over it.  With the right push from a label, I'm Yours might become the most requested first dance song of the next decade.  No kidding.

Stop What You're Doing is the sort of song Sarah McLachlan has been making millions on for years.  It doesn't sound like anyone other than Marian McCall, but it made me think of McLachlan, particularly in the chorus. Your Fault is a stark confrontation set to music, and sounds like it might have walked off the soundtrack of some prime-time teen soap opera.
Chelsea Morning is a gorgeous closure to Vanilla, and will be running through your head incessantly until you next listen to Vanilla.

Oh yes, the title track.  Vanilla is a tragic-comedy of self-doubt, and is impressive because of how unabashedly honest it is.  Fans often think they know an artist from their songs, and usually what you get to know is a caricature that is part the person and part projection.  One gets the impression from listening to Marian Call that there is no subterfuge or misdirection in her songwriting.  Marian Call can sing openly about herself because of a self-awareness that surpasses her years.  Pepper this with the sort of insecurities that we all feel and seldom voice and you have the essence of Vanilla.

Look, there are singer-songwriters, and then there are artists who transcend their genre to become divas, icons, symbols, or whatever label you want to use.  This doesn't happen in one album but over the course of time through repeated excellence and reinvention as an artist.  There are a mere handful of such artists every generation, and some burn out before they ever get recognized for what they truly are.  But if I were a betting man, I would put my money on Marian Call.

Vanilla is a Certified Desert Island Disc, and any other awards or monikers you can think to throw its way.  It's the best thing I've heard thus far in 2008, and is one of the three best debut albums I've ever heard.  Remember the day and time when you first heard about Marian Call, and get on the bandwagon soon.  This star is going to burn bright.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)



Scott Alexander
Makes Friends (EP)

Scott Alexander is a coffee house poet who happens to be a classically trained musician;  a talented music educator whose stream-of-consciousness songwriting style disarms the listener with its candor.  Mr. Alexander pays homage to the likes of Lou Reed, Billy Bragg and Jonathan Richman as influences, but he also could be described as sort of a punk Garrison Keillor.  On Scott Alexander Makes Friends he talk/sings through three songs that at first sound like condemnations of world around him, but end up as condemnations of self.

The key to Scott Alexander is a thriving insecurity that runs through his music and performance art-like self-promotion.  A self-deprecating spirit that could be self-destructive is instead used to comic effect to further disarm the listener.  It’s not until you’ve listened through the EP a couple of times that you find yourself saying, “Hey, this guy has a lot to say!”

The effect is almost too good.  Some will write off Scott Alexander as a quasi-depressed novelty act; He is anything but.  While this EP is not enough of Scott Alexander to say you know him, it’s similar to a speed dating encounter, leaving you with just enough to know you’d like to find out a little more.



Mike Ford
Canada Needs You, Volume 2

Just about everything I know about Canadian Geography or History I learned from Mike Ford.  I've never spoken to him on the subject, but through his songs I have learned about Oak Island, Sir John A, D'Arcy McGhee, The Great Toronto Fire of 1904, Oak Ridges Moraine, The Eastern Gap, and Thanadelthur (among others).  In May of 2008, Mike Ford released Canada Needs You, Volume 2, a continuation in his Canadian song cycle.

The thing about Mike Ford is that he tackles subject matter that might not normally draw in listeners, but the music and the delivery are so entertaining that you find yourself grooving along while you learn. Tackling serious ideas and issues with humor and panache has been an earmark of Mike Ford's songwriting since his Moxy Fruvous days, and if anything he has blossomed as a songwriter in his solo releases.  Canada Needs You, Volume 2 continues the growth seen on last year's Satellite Hotstove (see review here).

Canada Needs You, Volume 2 opens with Creeping Barrage, an urgent ballad about the personal costs of war.  The song is particular prescient in these times because it avoids the political arguments of right or wrong and just points to the costs.  This may be one of the best (and most understated) anti-war songs I've heard.  Talkin' Ten Lost Years is an entertaining look at the effects of the Great Depression in Canada, told in a speak/sing style reminiscent of Arlo Guthrie.  Let's Mobilize is a big-band tune about Canada's involvement in World War 2, and will have you wanting to be up and dancing the jitterbug within the first two bars.

Joey Smallwood is a comic take on the life of the controversial New Foundland politician who led the drive to include New Foundland in the Canadian Union, while Maurice Richard is a loving tribute to the hockey great.  Open For Business is the most rocking song on the album and deals with pros and cons of globalization.  This song is done in a style reminiscent of a Johnny Cash tune, and is incredibly entertaining.  The Giants is an ode to the protestors in the Clayoquot River Basin in 1992, many of whom were arrested and tried for social protests to protect the natural beauty of that region from loggers and corporate interests.

Nestled in amongst the above are tunes such as In Winnipeg, Tea Party, Canada Doesn't Need You, Expo 67!, and I'm Gonna Roam Again – all great tunes for which I have less contextual understanding, but great respect nonetheless.

Mike Ford is an enigma in today's pop music culture.  He writes great songs full of thoughtful and sometimes humorous lyrics.  The music stands on its own as great art, and you just might learn a little bit along the way.  As a special bonus for Moxy Fruvous fans, there is an unheralded mini reunion on Canada Needs You, Volume 2, as all four members appear in some capacity or other.  Canada Needs You, Volume 2 gets Wildy's World's highest rating, and qualifies as one of our certified Desert Island Discs!

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)