it took me a long time to warm to This is; I was disappointed when it came out, but when I went back to it a year later with fresh ears I found more to like. It's much more pop in many ways. I didn't even realize until yesterday that was Brett Anderson on it.
― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 16 September 2004 14:16 (nineteen years ago) link
(the other one is now taken down)
― Avi (Avi), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:22 (nineteen years ago) link
Thanks
― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 17 September 2004 20:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― the todster (the todster), Saturday, 18 September 2004 06:54 (nineteen years ago) link
I'm tempted to hear the new album now, but I'm going to wait until I buy it. I'm going to buy it, regardless, but I've realized how unhappy I am when all the albums I want to buy I've already heard. There's just no excitement in that. I trust, of course, that I'll be able to find the album when it's out... maybe I'll just bring my Stina list to Scratch and get them to order everything.
― derrick (derrick), Saturday, 18 September 2004 07:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 27 September 2004 12:19 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.v2music.com/site/audioVideo.asp?avType=11
(scroll down to "S")
― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Sunday, 24 October 2004 04:50 (nineteen years ago) link
The combo of "From Caymen Islands With Love" and "The Morning Belongs To The Night" is particularly affecting.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 8 November 2004 06:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― derrick (derrick), Monday, 8 November 2004 08:18 (nineteen years ago) link
The arrangements on the album are spectacular, clearly the best in her career so far. The string quartet pieces are definitely one of the main attractions for me, it's almost as if she is reinventing "Dynamite" in neoclassical form.
Derrick it is on Stina's own label, and is being distributed by V2 in Europe. No North American release planned as far as I know.
― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Monday, 8 November 2004 16:03 (nineteen years ago) link
"The arrangements on the album are spectacular, clearly the best in her career so far. The string quartet pieces are definitely one of the main attractions for me, it's almost as if she is reinventing "Dynamite" in neoclassical form. "
What I find interesting is that despite this reinvention it still sounds a lot like Dynamite (only without such an explicit post-punk vibe) or a more melodic, big budget version of People Are Strange - you'd think that with such a strong string quartet presence and so many jazz affectations the music would sound much closer to, say, the fuller pieces on And She Closed Her Eyes, but i think in the last ten years Stina's honed her arranging skills into such a distinct and purposeful weapon that she now rarely if ever sounds like she's performing in a particular style or genre.
Also, the press release says this is an upbeat record but in truth it is, as one would expect from Stina, a deliciously melancholy affair.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 8 November 2004 22:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 11:10 (nineteen years ago) link
Dynamite did this too, for all its grinding, and my favourite tracks on that album are similarly the ones that feel like they could go on forever - the title track, "Almost A Smile', "CQD", "Down Desire Avenue". Listening to that album agian, what leaps out at me right now is how the guitar is actually rarely particularly physical, for all its buzziness: it's the grain and the texture of that dirty guitar sound that Stina's focused on. The guitar is actually the most "soundscape" like aspect of the music, allowing the strings and the slow-groove rhythms to give the songs body and momentum. I think this is part of what makes them sound so compelling - the songs sound like they've been sculpted out of raw material, rough-hewn rock. The World Is Saved shares that feel, although it's softer, perhaps earth and clay.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 13:22 (nineteen years ago) link
That's exactly why I feel Dynamite is the more pertinent comparison for The World Is Saved, even though it's soft-focus and easy on the ear like This Is...: most of the time, when the melody and the voice and the instruments all gel, there's a real sense of musical unity, whereas with This Is... youwere always aware of the disparate components to each song. Which I suppose goes back to what you were saying about Stina's arrangement skillz - I can't remember if she produced Dynamite or not? Even the most This Is...-esque song on The World Is Saved, "Butterfly", sounds very natural, while the best songs - "Parliament Square", "From Cayman Islands With Love" just take that to another level.
― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 13:49 (nineteen years ago) link
I actually expected This Is... to be more pop than it turned out to be (as I only got it about a month ago, if that) - "Lori Glory" is a big exception obviously.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 13:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:03 (nineteen years ago) link
Yeah "On Falling" is marvellous, although I think I probably adore everything except the last track (and even then I like it).
I think The World Is Saved will actually help me fall in love properly with This Is - I think my first few listens to the latter were fringed with nervousness that Stina seemed to be moving away definitively from the things I loved in her earlier work, whereas now I can appreciate it for what it is.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:07 (nineteen years ago) link
Stina's the indie hangover from my pre-pop days!
― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:15 (nineteen years ago) link
Oh, you have to hear And She Closed Her Eyes. If you find "Lory Glory" unusual wait till you hear her do upbeat love songs! "Hopefully Yours" and "Something Nice" - both really beautiful. It's a gorgeous record actually, a bit jazzy and folky but not as slight and genre-bound as Memories of a Colour. I can understand why it's a lot of people's favourite. The hushed harmonies in "When Debbie's Back From Texas" alone are enough to die for.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:27 (nineteen years ago) link
I just listened to This Is and it sounded solidly great for the first time. I like it when ILX can change my reactions like that.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:32 (nineteen years ago) link
Stina's delivery of her lyrics has always been exquisite - possibly something to do with the natural pitch of her voice being one which is more normally associated with drama and high emotion, but the timbre being very deadpan and low-key. I can't think of anyone else who does deadpan in such a high pitch.
― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:53 (nineteen years ago) link
Speaking of vaguely elfin-sounding divas: has Anja Garbarek done anything since Smiling and Waving?
― Andy K (Andy K), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 14:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:02 (nineteen years ago) link
"The World Is Saved" too, but I suspect "Dynamite" first and foremost.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:04 (nineteen years ago) link
Who else is making records remotely like these people?
― Andy K (Andy K), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― Holga from germany. Or is it Switzerland?, Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:31 (nineteen years ago) link
And he raises a good question - who is making records even remotely like Dynamite et. al.?
― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― Andy K (Andy K), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:47 (nineteen years ago) link
No North American release planned as far as I know.
*grousegripe*
Dynamite is the one other album of hers I still don't have, I think.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 15:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 16:04 (nineteen years ago) link
Good lord no. (Had I ever fallen to an eBay addiction, I would be in a sorry state.)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 16:23 (nineteen years ago) link
― adam... (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 16:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 16:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― adam... (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 16:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 16:43 (nineteen years ago) link
Honestly I had no idea this was Brett Anderson until you told me. I still barely notice him on those two tracks. "Everyone else in the world" is easily one of her best song.
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 17:05 (nineteen years ago) link
I have a bit of a soft spot for "This Is", because it was my first Stina record, but it does seem a bit too self-conscious in places. I have a feeling the bsides were kicked off the album because they were over 3 minutes long. I do love how the cheap MIDI saxophone riff on "Lori Glory" is nearly morphed into something meaningful by Stina's downtrodden vocals. The same transformation happens with the cheap synthesized acoustic guitars on Michael Mayer's "Slowflood" (although that is more due to the arrangement).
"This is" also has Brett Anderson sounding more dignified than 90% of his material post-Dog Man Star.
"And She Closed Her Eyes" and "Dynamite" are two of my favorite albums from the 90s.
― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 19:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 20:44 (nineteen years ago) link
B-sides? I didn't even know there were singles! What are the b-sides like?
I went back to This Is... and Dynamite last night and fuck me, they're both superb.
― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 11:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― derrick (derrick), Monday, 22 November 2004 07:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― derrick (derrick), Monday, 3 January 2005 09:48 (nineteen years ago) link
People who like those might like a lot of the darker songs on Lhasa's The Living Road album, although Lhasa is pretty much the opposite of Stina vocally.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 3 January 2005 12:30 (nineteen years ago) link
well, which is more accurate?
― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 3 January 2005 13:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 3 January 2005 13:43 (nineteen years ago) link