Music Pick
Category: Folk/Rock
Artist: Evalyn Parry Oh, Evalyn
Album: Small Theatres
Release Date: May, 2007
I first met Evalyn Parry in the spring of 2003. She visited my college campus in Oklahoma, where roughly 6 students straggled in to hear her perform. To her credit, she took it in stride. Perched on a stool with an acoustic guitar, she told us stories--mostly daily anecdotes about life in Canada, peppered with biting political commentary. She enjoys making fun of things. She enjoys singing songs to illustrate her points. The tunes are witty, catchy, and theatrical, and in our little evening's performance she sang from the view of an ex-girlfriend, a lovesick butcher, and a maxipad.
The album she promoted at the time, Things That Should Be Warnings, was a third funny, a third political, and a third heartbroken--sort of like its title. Although a bit amateurish, it held several great songs and more interesting ones. It displayed Parry's talents of manipulating metaphor and working the influence of Celtic ballads into contemporary folk music with a biting edge. Her newest album, Small Theatres (to be released May 5), shows that Parry has developed as a musician and producer. The album has a richer, fuller sound, featuring more harmony, more bass, and even a glockenspiel. Parry herself takes credit for the vocals, guitar, concertina, kalimba, piano and whistling, and her fellow musicians compliment her energy. The songs still feature her Celtic influence and opinionated wit, but they do so with a more mature musical sound--Parry's no longer struggling to hang these songs on her voice alone.
The double set features "songs" (10 ditties) and "words" (6 musical poems). The tracks range in topic from the war to Nancy Drew to corporate Canada. My personal favorite is undoubtedly "Once in a Blue Moon," a spoken word piece where Parry directly addresses the paradox of viewing her fellow musician, Ani Difranco, as both inspiring icon and staunch competitor. It's personal, it's quirky, it's honest--and it's about blue hair, trendy coffee shops, and free trade, too.
Unique to the funky, queer, political musician/poet is her incredible word play and her lack of fury. She's outraged, certainly. She's concerned, and she's urgent. But her music evokes empathy and advocates action. There's no wrath, no desperation, and certainly no emo. To quote the artist herself, "Your sense of humor will carry you through."
Check out more at www.evalynparry.com.
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The Final Word
In Short:
The album is clever, upbeat, diverse, and distinctively catchy. And even when she strays to sentimental, the music is interesting enough to carry it through. Highly recommended.
Positives:
Interesting topics:
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Rating:
4 out of 5
Reviewed by Laurel
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