My close friends could tell you that I don't pay attention to song lyrics. Which is weird when you consider that I dabble in poetry, am a linguistics hobbyist, and write for a living. But it's true. I really don't pay much attention to song lyrics. I like vocal songs, but what matters most to me is the way the vocalist's voice sounds and the musicality of the lyrics themselves. The singer is an instrument, and I couldn't care less that they might also be trying to communicate something specific.
This makes watching musicals way more difficult than it should be, by the way.
Anywho, I wanted to make that clear so you'd understand how remarkable this point I'm about to make really is. See, I found a new artist you should check out. Her name is Angelica Garcia, and her first album, Medicine for Birds, was released earlier this year. And while her musicality is great and her voice is aurally interesting, the reason I really like her songs is, uncharacteristically, the lyrics.
I mean, I do listen to lyrics, they're just not the first thing I notice about most music, and I am more than capable of ignoring garbage lyrics as long as the music is good. This is one of the reasons I tend to like instrumental and classical music more than most popular genres. This is also one of the reasons I tend to kinda hate country. No offense to country fans, since at least among the people I know, it seems like the lyrics speak to country fans more than the music does. Pretty much the opposite of me.
But Medicine for Birds, which you could describe as a sort of alternative country, has convinced me that I should maybe be paying a little more attention to the words. Garcia does a few things really well on this album. The first thing I noticed was that despite obvious influences from the country genre, the music is very self-aware. It uses and intentionally subverts several basic commonalities of country to great effect, creating something at once familiar yet surprisingly interesting.
Beyond that, Garcia's voice has a unique character about it. Again she has obviously been influenced by country, but she's also been influenced by blues, Americana, and a lot more than that. The blend creates an interesting curve to her sounds. She's also got a lot of natural talent and sophisticated depth of emotion that juxtaposes nicely with what I would guess is a lack of extensive formal training. The result is pleasing to listen to without being alienating.
The star of the album, though, is Garcia's writing. As a composer and singer she's talented, but it would be easy to lose her in the wash of talented young artists out there if it weren't for her skill as a lyricist. Her lyrics are structured, varied, and meaningful. Much like good poetry they communicate scenes and emotions in short form with both clarity and beauty. And as a comparison to poetry, Garcia's lyrics hold up further, ranging from clever and entertaining to lending varied meaning for anyone willing to spend some cycles pondering them. Importantly, they are also superficially pleasant on the ear or in the mouth, and are reminiscent overall of some of my favorite poets (Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein come to mind). There is a lot to unpack, and if you'd rather not bother with the unpacking, you can just sit and enjoy the aural paintings she's created inside these songs.
You should give her stuff a listen. Medicine for Birds is probably the single best debut album I've ever heard, and of the albums released by all of my favorite artists in the past few years, I think I like this one the best. And now you can discover all that for yourself.
You're welcome.
This makes watching musicals way more difficult than it should be, by the way.
Anywho, I wanted to make that clear so you'd understand how remarkable this point I'm about to make really is. See, I found a new artist you should check out. Her name is Angelica Garcia, and her first album, Medicine for Birds, was released earlier this year. And while her musicality is great and her voice is aurally interesting, the reason I really like her songs is, uncharacteristically, the lyrics.
I mean, I do listen to lyrics, they're just not the first thing I notice about most music, and I am more than capable of ignoring garbage lyrics as long as the music is good. This is one of the reasons I tend to like instrumental and classical music more than most popular genres. This is also one of the reasons I tend to kinda hate country. No offense to country fans, since at least among the people I know, it seems like the lyrics speak to country fans more than the music does. Pretty much the opposite of me.
But Medicine for Birds, which you could describe as a sort of alternative country, has convinced me that I should maybe be paying a little more attention to the words. Garcia does a few things really well on this album. The first thing I noticed was that despite obvious influences from the country genre, the music is very self-aware. It uses and intentionally subverts several basic commonalities of country to great effect, creating something at once familiar yet surprisingly interesting.
Beyond that, Garcia's voice has a unique character about it. Again she has obviously been influenced by country, but she's also been influenced by blues, Americana, and a lot more than that. The blend creates an interesting curve to her sounds. She's also got a lot of natural talent and sophisticated depth of emotion that juxtaposes nicely with what I would guess is a lack of extensive formal training. The result is pleasing to listen to without being alienating.
The star of the album, though, is Garcia's writing. As a composer and singer she's talented, but it would be easy to lose her in the wash of talented young artists out there if it weren't for her skill as a lyricist. Her lyrics are structured, varied, and meaningful. Much like good poetry they communicate scenes and emotions in short form with both clarity and beauty. And as a comparison to poetry, Garcia's lyrics hold up further, ranging from clever and entertaining to lending varied meaning for anyone willing to spend some cycles pondering them. Importantly, they are also superficially pleasant on the ear or in the mouth, and are reminiscent overall of some of my favorite poets (Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein come to mind). There is a lot to unpack, and if you'd rather not bother with the unpacking, you can just sit and enjoy the aural paintings she's created inside these songs.
You should give her stuff a listen. Medicine for Birds is probably the single best debut album I've ever heard, and of the albums released by all of my favorite artists in the past few years, I think I like this one the best. And now you can discover all that for yourself.
You're welcome.
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