Wildly interesting... like a wonderfully written suicide not
John J. Martinez | Chicago, Illinois United States | 07/08/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"From the opening notes of "Let Me Go," sisters Abigail and Lily Chapin (along with half-sister Jessica Craven) set the tone for what is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing albums of 2008.
Their melodies are perfect; and they should be, as all three are daughters of roayalty: the two being the daughters of folk singer Tom Chapin (brother of Harry) and the other sister being the daughter of horror director Wes Craven.
This mixture of soulfulness and dark creativity comes together in a wonderfully hypnotic sound that will grab you and take you on their journey of sadness and love lost.
Many critics may not get it, but I do - they've been hurt at one time or another, and as most artists do, they take it out on the sculpture, or paintings, or their writing, etc. They just happen to have guitars.
It's not enough that they are pretty, oh no, they're not resting on those tired laurels. They can craft a tune and lyrics that twist and are as deep as the bark on that old tree that you used to love but is long gone now, torn away by a strong storm.
Their songs are earthy soulful stories, and sad ones at that: lost love, self-hatred due to destroyed relationships, self-pity, and in the case of one of the strongest lovelorn songs on the album, "Kill Me Now," the lyrics speak for themselves:
"Don't wanna live, sad and lonely, no, no
So go get a rock
And just stone me
Have mercy on me
It's the end
Don't you see?
Kill me now, oh, kill me now..."
What more can you say about this? This is some heavy stuff, but apparently they've all run into some seriously bleak territory at one time or another in the past, yet the music is almost upbeat even though most of the lyrics sometimes read like a well-crafted suicide note.
Which, to be honest, works here.
They have taken the best and worst of their emotions and torn themselves open for the listener, and it's intensely personal and even though it may sound angry, please understand this: most of their uninformed male contemporaries constantly write bleaker and just plain uglier commentaries on their ideas of what they think makes women tick and their views of love are horrible, and men and mostly women (who don't know any better) just eat that crap up.
Why shouldn't these women show that they can be pissed and sad and have crappy days too and write about how their lovers used them and hurt them and make it worth listening to? In the case of "Can't We Please," the daily pain of trying to wash away the anger of a blown chance at love is crushing.
And it's the lyrics that are so devistating, like a passed note from a friend of a friend saying to you "she's gone, and she wanted you to have this."
It's about time I've finally heard a female perspective that I can understand and doesn't involve them singing about kissing other women or having to show off their vaginas to sell me on their sound.
The Chapin sisters are real singers with real talent and of course, the mainstream media would rather have them gussied up in bikinis or so drugged up or drunk onstage that it makes them "trendy" and just another log on the fire of disposable garbage they call popular music these days, and that's why although they will make a small dent in the music industry, the scumbags at the top just won't let them into their club.
Which, for the Sisters, may be a good thing. This kind of musical purity should be out there, but it unless there is a serious shift in taste, these women will only be understood by those who can still feel in a world of plastic emotions and musical mediocrity. And me, of course.
Now for the technical content:
It's a good hour of music over 11 wonderful songs. The sound is clean, and outside of the singers and the occasional guitar and a few other smaller bits of timber for the beat, it's the voices that outshine it all, and it's intimate, and infectious to listen to, and dare I say it? - fun.
In summation, this is the perfect kind of music Edgar Allan Poe would have listened to on a rainy night as he wrote one of his many blood-soaked short stories, or... could it be the other way round?
Either way, pick up a copy - the artwork is delicate, deep, and comes at you like a knife to the heart, but with the Sisters as my siren song? It is so worth it.
(Please feel free to read my other not-too-subtle critiques online here at Amazon. Thanks.)"
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1
