arms' first song, "fireweed," grabbed me and tore my insides out. as i listened, it stuffed them back in and continued to toil around in there, with Watson's innocent yet ominous whispers. i had completely melted onto my living room carpet by the second time Watson sings the line, "where the fireweeds grow."
the second song, "tracey's waters," is not as equally gutting, but soulful to say the least. as i moved on to "beijing," i began to realize Watson was experimenting with some new sounds on this album. there was a lot of metal-banging. had he spent some time in the orient? africa? the streets of new jersey? either way, it didn't matter too much. he made it sound great.
onto the album's title track. now this is what i was used to hearing from Watson. sad, ghostly, haunting ballads that made me feel his despair in sleeping with someone whom he knows has no love for him. the piano makes me want to kill myself. Jeff Buckley is speaking from the grave in this song.
"traveling salesman" is one of those songs you may listen to 50 times before it hits you across the back of the head with its brilliance. strange harmonies, a shuffling gait, it hearkens back to "weight of the world" from paradise.
"big bird in a small cage" still hasn't really hit me. but then again, Patrick Watson is like pizza. you know how that goes.
"man like you" shows off Watson's countertenor, and is simple and haunting. "where the wild things are" builds like a crescendo and throws in all of the instruments he's learned to play since the last album; this song actually reminds me of an orchestra. what's brilliant about it is that it's all under Watson's composition.
the bonus track "hearts in the park" is a campy number that i imagine Watson wrote while smoking weed around a campfire after watching westerns and noirs all day. bonus tracks... now that we have itunes, they aren't really bonus anymore, are they?
Great review!
ReplyDeletethanks bowz!
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