Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Elisa Flynn " Songs About Birds and Ghosts"




Songs About Birds and Ghosts has been in the works for a long long time. I was very excited upon receiving it in the mail last week.
Elisa Flynn is a good friend of mine that Ive had the pleasure of recording and performing with for some time now. Elisa is one of those people who emanates music. She has been in the music scene for a very long time with many respectable projects under her belt. Her determination to make music and make an impact in this boring, saturated music scene is just simply impressive. I can honestly say that I wish I had her balls.
The album is very nicely arranged. I love the progression of the songs and the overall mood.
The songs are very much to the point and don't really dance around too much leaving you bored out of your noggin. One thing Ive always admired about Elisa is her courage to do what she wants to do and nothing else. This can clearly be heard throughout the album. Her lyrics are very dreamy and bring to mind Sylvia Plath's dark, moody compositions. Me being a guitar player, I always look forward to hearing some tasteful guitar sounds. I'm not really ever looking for extensive guitar riffs and coma inducing pedal effects. Songs About Birds and Ghosts has the right amount of "guitar shine" as I would say. Also, her chord arrangements are very down to earth and minimalistic, which really bring out her lyrics and leave your ears satisfied.
I usually hate comparisons but I think this comparison that I'm about to make is merely a reflection of what my ears find beautiful. Listening to the album I could hear that Elisa is not only influenced by those classic pop, punk rock icons that many of us adore but also more contemporary artists that have emerged recently. The spirit of Neko Case seeps through Elisa's heart and drip drops around in some of the more delicate songs on the album, while still holding true to Elisa's trademark folk/punk sound.
"Egon" and " My Mistake" are really my favorite tracks. I listen to them over and over. "Egon's" waltzy/polka/punk jangle makes me want to learn how to play the drums. I just friggin love that song. " My Mistake" has Elisa written all over it. If you don't know Elisa and want to know her this is the song to listen to. Its strong and confident just like EF.
I had the honor of recording banjo on "Big Sky", which Ive uploaded for you to hear.
This is truly a very well executed album. I am sure we will see Elisa shinning in the Big Sky very soon; she has been for a long time now, its just time we all noticed. Enjoy the tracks below.
yours,
JD



Big Sky
Egon

No comments: