Search - Dancer Vs. Politician :: A City Half Lost

There s something beautifully melancholy about fall. As the leaves burst into brilliant colors and the weather slowly turns, so does the music that plays on the stereo of many seasonal-oriented music lovers. The same music that fits the summer months just don t cut it in the dimming days of fall; albums that are a bit darker and deeper tend to once more find their way to the top of the music pile. I m talking Fiona Apple in her heyday. Portishead s Dummy. Bon Iver, of course. Maybe some Low and Radiohead thrown in for good measure. Dancer Vs. Politician, Sanni Baumgaertner s latest Athens, GA-based project, joins that group of esteemed musicians with A City Half-Lost, an album perfectly crafted for the arrival of colder weather. As with many albums, however, there are a few standouts and a few songs that could have been left off completely. "Wet Leaves" and "Homeless Mind" close the album and play to Sanni s strength as a songwriter and a musical craftsman. Both tracks continue the tone set by songs like "Mond & Stern," delicate tracks transformed into rich, eerily dark songs through muted Portishead-like reverb. Baumgaertner s immense talent clearly reveals itself on this debut album, and even the album s misfits "Happiness" and "Mach Dich los" (which unfortunately lead-off and bisect the tracklist) are musically sound. After spending nearly a decade traveling back and forth between her home country of Germany and the U.S., Baumgaertner recently relocated permanently to Athens, GA, and many of the songs on A City pay homage to her heritage. Although those who aren t fluent in German will struggle to understand her lyrics, the gentle intertwining of stringed instruments backing Sanni s lilting voice with horns, accordion, and glockenspiel might just serve as her musical auf Wiedersehen to her country of birth. - by Lizzzzard (Tiny Mix Tapes)