Christopher Bell – Cover EP
I’ve been listening to this a lot in the last month or so and, honestly, it’s fucking gorgeous. There are plenty of strings, accordion and wonderful male/female harmonies which conjure a wistfully old-fashioned air, without being in any obvious way any sort of museum piece. There are slight hints of cabaret, of orchestra and of twee pop, but not all that much of anything. And these may be covers, but none you are likely to recognise, as he has covered songs by his friends, which I like as a concept a great deal.
It just sways gently back and forth in a beautiful, sad sort of a way, which calls to mind a windswept New England deck, an overcast sky and a slow waltz shared by old lovers. I’m not sure why either, because it’s not the sort of chocolate box schmaltz that sort of image creates – maybe that’s where the sadness comes in. Instead of evoking the romance of the situation, maybe it evokes the melancholy loves of a long and difficult history shared between two weary people.
The violin scrapes like a clarinet at times – I can almost find myself thinking it’s a set of pipes on occasion – and that adds something of the abandoned music hall to the music, as well as emphasising the whiff of faded grandeur which maintains a sort of defeated dignity throughout the EP. A Letter to Violet Edison and Flat Ol’ Florida are pretty gorgeous, but the standout for me is Pretty Thing, which is just a gorgeous piece of work: short, evocative, maudlin and fucking lovely.
The vocal interplay bears some mentioning as well. Bell himself rumbles away in consistent tones on half the songs, with a slightly nasal quality to his voice, and this provides a platform for the lovely female vocal to add flights and flourishes with a much more mobile contribution. The results are bloody lovely – I’ve said that a lot in this review haven’t I, and I suppose that should tell you all you need to know.
Christopher Bell – Pretty Thing
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This is lovely. I love duets.
My only recommendation with this: just buy it.
yep, good… even if I didn’t get to scoop ya on it,
and the strings, wow… just perfect. i really do miss these old fashioned type songs when i find myself immersed in all the new stuff that hits my inbox. finding something like this there is a small slice of light in a dark, leafy forest sometimes, xoxo
Well you did scoop me on it by writing about it first, didn’t you? I’m really sure how scoopage works though, so maybe not. Bloody lovely EP whatever the weather.