Katell Keineg
At The Mermaid Parade
(Honest Jon's Records)
I have to confess I have the peculiar habit
(which I'm sure some would call "a little mania") of keeping
a list of names of artists I like who could euphemistically be called "commercially
not very relevant", and that I started keeping that list (which is
constantly kept up-to-date) back in my teenage days in order not to lose
track of those artists, given their somewhat marginal status and selective
appeal. Sure, I suppose this could be considered a funny way to spend one's
time, but at least it definitely served its purpose in a day and age when
information was scarce, usually late, and hard to come by. But what about
today, in the age of Internet, and of those thousand sources in real time?
Well, due to certain circumstances, starting from March, and for a few months,
I didn't check my short list. So it was with great surprise that a couple
of months ago I saw that a new Katell Keineg album had gone on sale...
in March. Here I have to admit that though something similar had already
happened with regards to High July - her previous album, released about
six years before At The Mermaid Parade - it was with great surprise that
I noticed "the silence of the Web": what do you mean, there are
no reviews?
A look at the album cover confirmed to me that Katell Keineg decided to use
a DIY approach once again. This time the album label is called Honest Jon's
Records (a name, Honest Jon's, that up to now reminded me of a record shop
in a "freaky" part of London back in the 70s; even the address
- Ladbroke Grove, which to this day reminds me of the group Hawkwind and
of Notting Hill Gate - looks the same). Provided I'm not mistaken, the
CD was pressed in Germany. As I'll say in a minute, the recorded sound
is really excellent, the recording sessions having taken place in a New
York studio called The Maid's Room.
Looking at the list of featured instrumentalists, we see once again Dim Gurevich,
who plays guitar, bass, piano, etc. Very fine performance by Ben Perowski
on drums, there's also a rhythm section (Brian Geltner, drums; Matthew
Morandi, bass) that appears on two tracks. Also, versatile contributions
by Ed Pastorini on piano, Fender Rhode electric piano, etc. Katell Keineg
is obviously on guitar and vocals. She also produced the album, with some
help from Jack McKeever, who also recorded the sessions, and mixed the
tracks, together with Katell Keineg.
At The Mermaid Parade is a very fine album, with a rich, warm sound that to
me sounds as being totally analogue. Keineg's vocal approach here has the
lively immediacy we usually associate with
"live" performances (which I think they really are). I have to
confess it was the sound of the album - so beautiful, but at the same time
a bit unusual when it comes to some timbres and instrumental proportions
as they appear in the mix - that made me listen to the album quite a few
times, just to make sure that the enjoyment I felt while listening to the
music was to be shared by fellow listeners. At times the vocals are enormous
- check Thirteen, where it sounds like Katell Keineg is in our room, singing),
instruments here mostly acting as a framework.
The only problem I encountered (it's an old story) is that there are no lyrics
printed on the album cover. Which I find really annoying, since - from
the little I understand - Keineg's tales move in different temporal dimensions,
which doesn't make things easy for this listener. Plus, her language is
rich (just looking at the titles I had to search for two words: olden,
and calenture). Sometimes (also thanks to a very vivid recorded sound)
things are a bit easier (Old Friend, I Fell In Love With The World). Other
times, understanding just a few isolated fragments is quite frustrating: "Imported
beer for three dollars fifty-eight" (...)
"And the beer is kicking in" (Summer Loving Song). Or, "Anyway,
what I really meant to say is, 'Get Over Yourself', as they say, 'You need
Americanized Media'" coming from the "funky-disco" with many
voices called World Of Sex. Quite paradoxically, the only track where one
is able to listen to the complete text, commas included, is her cover of
Big Star's Thirteen (off their album #1 Record), which Shirley Manson had
sung with the group Garbage at the time of their second album, Version 2.0.
A piano with reverb, quite Lennon-like, opens At The Mermaid Parade, with two
vocal lines placed in separate channels, fine melodic development, and
an unexpected bridge. A fine "French Folk" tune in 3/4, St. Martin
has good drums and a nice piano. The brief, pianistic, Old Friend brings
us to the aforementioned Summer Loving Song, a circular ballad with appropriate
work from the rhythm section. To me, I Fell In Love With The World sounds
on the sad side, it has an excellent instrumental coda from the piano.
The Arsehole Song has an ironic, sing-along, quality.
The cover of Thirteen is quite moving. Olden Days sounds like a jig, with nice
backing from the electric piano. Dear Ashley sounds like a letter, while
(no lyrics!) I could not decide about the many possible meanings of World
Of Sex (a track that has many excellent vocal moments in an album that
has lots of them). The brief, melancholic, Dig A Pit takes us to the appropriate
album closer: Calenture, a ballad starring acoustic guitar, piano, a rhythm
section, and an electric guitar played tremolo.
Beppe Colli
© Beppe Colli 2010
CloudsandClocks.net | Dec. 4, 2010
