-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Ambient * Ethereal *
Artist..: Lotte Kestner
Album...: The Bluebird Of Happiness
GENRE....: Indie
STYLE....: Pop, Folk, World, & Country
LABEL....: Saint Marie SCENE.....: 2015-02-01
BITRATE..: 184 kbps avg STORE.....: 2013-03-15
ENCODER..: LAME 3.98.4 -V0 TRACKS....: 12
SIZE.....: 63.08MB SOURCE....: CD
URL..: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna-Lynne_Williams
- TRACKLIST
1 String 3:27
2 Wrestler 4:32
3 The Bluebird Of Happiness 4:33
4 Turn The Wolves 4:58
5 Pairs 3:45
6 Invention 3:42
7 Halo 4:29
8 Sweetheart 3:10
9 When It's Time 3:37
10 Eggshell 2:51
11 Cliff 3:50
12 Little Things 4:45
Total Playtime: 47:39
When a relatively unknown name strikes out on their own apart from their
bandmates, the stage is set for what usually ends up as a more experimental
shift. Understandably, the solo album is a template for the creative juices
that couldnÆt fit within the frames of the bandÆs construct. Personal
interests and tendencies seep in, and youÆre left with a clearer picture of
the artist by themselves, unobstructed apart from compromise or settling.
This is what makes Anne-Lynne WilliamsÆs [stagename: Lotte Kestner] solo
efforts so intriguing, as they fit none of the aforementioned
characterizations. DonÆt fret- they still ooze the same creativity and raw
talent as her band, Trespassers William. Each one is similar in mood, and The
Bluebird of Happiness is yet another testament to KestnerÆs solo prowess
apart from Trespassers William. The bandÆs signature album, Different Stars,
is a purple-y, swirling romantic mess of shoegaze and lovelorn crooning. It
dips in and out of hazy guitar swells that blanket and muffle LotteÆs vocals.
On her solo efforts -and this one in particular- the reverb-laden guitars are
traded for pianos and acoustics that allow for her voice to steal the
spotlight. Songs like ôParisö showcase just how beautiful her whispery voice
is when given its due presence at center stage. Somber and lamentful, The
Bluebird of Happiness doesnÆt deviate much from previous records like China
Mountain.
Again, intimacy is one of the main draws, here. The entirety feels like
Williams is blanketing the listener with her personal lamentations, and she
feels so very close. This is due to the bare production and lack of layering.
The minimalism is apt, and is the chief variation from equally-beautiful
voices of her peers and Trespassers William alike. I would go as far to argue
that Lotte KesnerÆs defining moments of her solo catalogue comes from this
album, in the form of her cover of BeyonceÆs ôHalo.ö What could have easily
come off as cheap and intrusive instead highlights WilliamsÆs knack for
communicating the same level of sentimentalism and authenticity through her
own subtlety as Beyonce does by stretching her voice to such limits. And
further, it feels utterly in place. Always, KestnerÆs composition and track
placement feels purposeful and restrained. The melancholy and homogeny might
meld together into what some feel is too dismal and same-y, but those
listeners will be missing out on an ever-consistent musician displaying how
everything she touches turns beautiful, no matter what name itÆs released
under.
*
I think I can explain Anna-Lynne Williams through BeyoncΘ, or at least
through the startling cover of ôHaloö that finds its home on The Bluebird of
Happiness. These post-Trespassers Williams records have freed Williams to
render music in whatever shape she wants, and while theyÆve mostly been
confined to the folk music weÆd expect of the truest basement dweller, itÆs
telling that sheÆs chosen to minimise herself with whatever tools she uses,
as if to say that all thatÆs behind the dream-pop is the person who got lost
in the sound and longed for a love. BeyoncΘ is a worthy contender because
sheÆs there playing for Williams when she canÆt look into her notebook; sheÆs
another one lost and looking, at least for ôHaloö, and someone on the
outside. Longing isnÆt just a love nobodyÆs giving back û it can be a shared
feeling emanating from our speakers.
It would be easy to say WilliamsÆ take on ôHaloö, hardly a song for someone
dug underground, is a departure from the Lotte Kestner project, even in its
autonomous, free-write and take-all form. Maybe it would be easy to see the
cover as another shock value Youtube crossover, like where someone does an
acoustic Death Grips cover because thatÆs completely mental and
counterfactual, but to hell with that û itÆs not like Williams is playing
ôStarshipsö. This isnÆt a departure because it doesnÆt reinvent Williams,
just what sheÆs listening to. Until now her covers have been of Interpol, Bon
Iver, and the National, the kind of indie rock anxiety anthems that try to
grab something once itÆs gone. The desperation of her ôLief Eriksonö cover,
particularly, captures what Paul BanksÆ lyrics share with many of her own û
ôYou come here to me / WeÆll collect these lonely partsö sees him on the
grieving scale, though Turn on the Bright Lights ends before he can get to
acceptance. What Williams sees in this, I think, is herself; the incisive
songwriter in her picked out ôLief Eriksonö and ôSkinny Loveö because they
got close to her, and because Lotte Kestner is a project that sides with the
unrequited and dispirited. ôHaloö might not have the stalwarts of indie rock
behind it, but it comes from a strong, brilliant voice that canÆt help make
someone else their damning lot.
It just fits. Williams is so good with covers because she can find the exact
metaphors that fit her own, ones she can scale on her own if she so chooses.
BeyoncΘÆs lyrics are sunbeams fighting against her darkest nights, Williams
is the building and her lover is the ceiling. The Bluebird of Happiness is
the kind of imagined û and yet resolutely direct û conversation a
singer-songwriter can have with another person, even if the walls are a
lonely stand-in. ôThe Wrestlerö, a melancholic folk song covered over by a
haze of tinny sound, begins with WilliamsÆ giving the answer to a question we
never hear asked, and turns the routine moment, the æyou got a light?Æ of all
beginnings, into a list of reasons sheÆs been consumed. Finally: ôwrestle you
into every thoughtö. It wonÆt be news to anyone whoÆs heard Different Stars,
but Williams offers rare insight in the domain of the personal pronoun; she
can will her opposite number into existence with as much as a ôyouö and the
words that surround it. Williams is always having a conversation.
And weirdly, The Bluebird of Happiness might prove Williams to be the
opposite of a placid songwriter, or a simple songwriter. SheÆs one built for
dream-pop and delicate folk music, but more accustomed to a heavy crash, and
as Lotte Kestner, her strumming is a great feint. On the recordÆs title track
she plays guitar like a clock ticking slowly, but relentlessly; she repeats
ôbury me at seaö with the same morbid resignation. Does any other folk record
disturb us as it aches? It took me a while to process The Bluebird of
Happiness, but so it should. This is a record laid bare for us on the
surface, but not sensationally so. ItÆs a record of slow-burners, but their
lethargy is used to process the painful and regret whatÆs already in the
past. ôI said it before I meant itö, the devastating aphorism Williams sings
on ôTurn the Wolvesö, might be one of the hardest lyrics to hear, let alone
write, and it appears on a song fit for any number of indie folk records.
This could have been Sam BeamÆs, and so it almost neatly passes us by. The
lyrics of Lotte Kestner transform and mutate, and what they do to a folk song
is deadly.
Williams is an intelligent enough songwriter not to put full force behind her
lyrics or to push any aspect of The Bluebird of Happiness into a corner. At
times, she seems more interested in the boundaries of definition, but even as
she cuts up and disjoints her record with ôEggshellö, a dark synth
experiment, she seems wary of that leap. So yes, I guess I wasnÆt taken aback
by her ôHaloö, because it was another painful moment that wouldnÆt overstep.
Coming back to The Bluebird of Happiness is integral to its brilliance,
revealing the conversations and the damage done, but BeyoncΘ is being sung
downstairs like everything else. The song you heard at the Super Bowl mustnÆt
wake a soul, and like anything that fits into a Lotte Kestner record,
Williams will whisper as these walls come tumbling down.
*
Bluebirds often have mythological associations, sometimes adopting
superstitious symbolism, other times encountered in fairy tales. Every so
often they are portrayed as emblems of hope and faith, spiritual embodiments
of the rising sun, with the belief that the dawn of a new day brings the
promise of opportunities and renewal. Lotte Kestner's new solo album, The
Bluebird of Happiness, is perhaps somehow inspired by these symbolic
connotations of the bluebird; wrapped in a blanket of intimacy, it is a
lovelorn album that croons with a purposeful sense of emotional healing.
Interestingly, the title itself is almost self-contradictory û there's an icy
numbness as Kestner's emotive vocals chill to the bone, and yet the abundance
of overwhelming sincerity and emotion contained within the trembling sound
waves of every string plucked, every note sung, arouses a tender happiness.
The mournful 'String' begins with a tentative, whispered countdown, leading
into the powerfully poetic lament of possible abandonment û "love, love if
you love me, why do you make me miss you so?" while violins and the echo of
hums haunt the acoustic refrain. 'Wrestler' adopts romanticised metaphors for
hearts with buildings and matches, lyrically brooding of the emotional and
psychological wrestlings with love, whereas title track 'The Bluebird of
Happiness' utilises a muted piano as Kestner sombrely croons, "bury me at
sea" around a harmonised murmur that resonates across the ocean of melodies.
She teams up with Damien Jurado, the Seattle based indie rock musician, on
the ballad Turn of the Wolves', while stripping BeyoncΘ's 'Halo' right back
to the bare exposure of vocal control and remarkable harmonisation,
transforming it from a drum-driven declaration to an impassioned confession.
Contrastingly, Kestner's vocals are muffled and distorted on 'Sweetheart', as
if they were reaching you from across a distant, transatlantic telephone
wire, which adds a soothing, dreamlike ambiance that complements the
occasional purr of a harmonica and repetitive rattle of a tambourine.
'Eggshell' is as fragile as the title suggests; melodically ethereal and
rhythmically sluggish, you get a sense of the draining power of love as the
lyrics, "it's so hard to love; guess that's what makes it worth so much."
Similarly, 'Cliff' solemnly mourns lost youth and emotional strength which
can sometimes leave you hanging by a thread, as a compact orchestra of
violins, flutes, and cellos, guides the instrumentation into a melodic waltz.
Closing the album is 'Little Things', which builds with a tender fingerpicked
guitar and the fragile shake of percussion.
The wealth of emotion on this album is intensified by the restrain in
Kestner's voice; she approaches the ballad-sounding tracks not with the
bellowing Adele-like choruses, but rather with a discreet, barely audible
whisper, which suggests an emotional defeat from within. Yes, the laments are
sombre and slow, but what feels unbearable in life is somehow made bearable û
and beautiful û through art, and, on this album alone, Kestner certainly has
the ability to turn everything beautiful. Lyrically moving and a pleasure to
listen to, The Bluebird of Happiness creates an emotional impact on anyone
who has ever loved which, although a universal emotion, Kestner has written
about with such thought that it also evokes a feeling of the personal. So
perhaps the hope behind this album is to unchain you from the pains of love
by confronting them as you drift through the record, eventually allowing your
soul to achieve some kind of liberation and, like the bluebird, fly free
towards happiness.
-=- SHGZ -=-
P.S.
** Thanks ***
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*** For Knowing Where The Music Is At ***
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