Monday 25 January 2010
My love got contagious
(photo: Karin Bubas)
I know that I tend to be on the obsessive/compulsive side, and some may even call be a bit of a perfectionist, but I’m nowhere near as persistent as Olivia Fetherstonhaugh, whose admitted taking as long as a year writing a song. Little wonder that Dark Eyes, her debut album under the name Fanshaw has been a five-year long writing and recording process. In the interim Fetherstonhaugh has been working with The Choir Practice as well as gigging about as Fanshaw, so little surprise that Fetherstonhaugh has signed on with Mint Records to release Dark Eyes.
If one had to make comparisons, Fanshaw most immediately reminds me of St. Vincent, in that he songs themselves balance on the edge of awkward introspection and extroverted exuberance. Often times, it’s Fetherstonhaugh’s voice alone that straddles that boundary, and she controls her instrument gracefully and with skill. “Strong Hips” sees her velvety vocal tones seduce the listener, while a track like “Nobody” uses her voice as part of the instrumentation.
The more I spend time with Fanshaw, the more I’m drawn to Fetherstonhaugh’s songs, as all good albums should do. I have a feeling that this is going to be a grower of an album, one that in a few months time will become a regular part of my music rotation. Dark Eyes is in stores on February 9, but you can get into Fanshaw right now:
MP3: Fanshaw “Strong Hips”
Myspace: Fanshaw
This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 11:30 am and is filed under MP3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
