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Sparkler Album By Vanessa Peters Reviewed by Andrew Kozma
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This album is different from her first (Mirabilandia, a self-produced/copied EP) in that she has a full array of instruments behind her. Still, a few songs go on their own, just her voice with her guitar interweaving like a fish in a river. Those numbers that do have a band have a lot more drive and tend to be rollicking even if the sentiment of loss and longing is the same. i folded up every letter nice and neat Nostalgia runs through the songs like gold thread in a tapestry, but the nostalgia is not that of regret or sadness or, if it is, those emotions are tempered by a present hope for the future. It is as if singing about these feelings, simply being able to sing about them, means that they will not last. But the songs on Sparkler aren’t depressingly happy (or is that happily depressing?) like the Cure, or pain cloaked in pure beauty like some of Williams’ songs; instead they are the confessions of a close friend who always keeps her sense of humor at hand. and it’s clear we’ve reached the end of the line
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Strangely, though the majority of songs are about troubles and doubts in a relationship, this seems Music to be in a Relationship By. The lyrics and Peters’ voice contain a wealth of passion for and faith in the “you” she’s addressing, even while singing: how long will you love me after i’m gone |
Even in those shadowed lines the absence, the exit, the leaving has yet to take place. The tone could almost be that of teasing the “you,” though it more seems a monologue to the self at night, the loved one sleeping, unaware you’re thinking the train of events is quickly crashing. The situations in the songs often rise above cliché, if not completely escape the label, even though relationship songs are the dominant form today (if there was ever a time in popular music – excluding classical – when they weren’t). For example, the title song uses the 4th of July and counterpoints that celebration of millions of people with a lovers’ walk in the dark of a moonless night. Or, rather, just a memory of that walk. The emotional impact of that memory is unstated – the only event, really, is the lover turning his ankle. Separated by distance now, at least, the speaker says: happy 4th of july, baby Dominant images to look for in a close reading of Sparkler’s lyrics: sun, stars (often falling), sparks (of course), math (inc. counting), and distance. These recurring images tie the disparate songs together such as with the absence of stars in “july,” the walk under the stars in “it’s been a long time,” and the falling stars in “you still wait for me” and “sparkler.” What this creates, along with the emotional hooks I’ll talk about in a second, is the sense that you are listening to a single speaker. Well, okay, that’s true for most bands/artists… but what’s different here is the strong impression that it’s a specific speaker singing about a certain, closely-bounded time of her life, that we, as listeners, are being let in on the story. The story the album takes us through is that of a love affair, treated in the now classic fractured fashion. The meeting (track 2: i wanted to ask you); falling in love (track 12: too far gone); and the break-up with the resulting confusion and self-evaluation that comes after (track 4: rather bad day). The rest of the songs fill in the finer points of the spaces between, though as a musical narrative the songs work through emotional hooks rather than bald, connecting plot points – and, by the end, the emotion is fitting: a journey not yet resolved, ready for another listen. As Peters sings: here’s a handful of sparks And you will. postscript: You can find samples of her songs at www.vanessapeters.net and can find this album at, for one, www.mytexasmusic.com REVIEWED BY: MORE INFO & ORDERING: Vaneessa Peters on MyTexasMusic.com MORE REVIEWS: |
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