1. another day, another life 03:10
2. small world 04:25
3. things like that 04:22
4. the boulevard of broken dreams 05:19
5. olde lullaby 03:44
6. violet hour 05:58
7. late night creature feature 02:52
8. when all the freaks come out and play 03:20
9. watching the stars go out 05:03
10. without a net 03:56
As always, I don't have much time to write something in here, but I just have to post what I can for now (and likely not much later, even until the end of the year, sadly).
I met Mary and Eric at an Amanda Palmer concert I recall in late 2008. They are fans of course of Amanda and the Dresden Dolls like myself. Their music is influenced, but not entirely like the Dolls/Amanda's.
They do this interesting style of what I'd call Psychedelic acoustic-mostly Cabaret Pop/Rock/Folk. Rather lyrical, ironic, dark, humorous, theatrical, and especially on this album, there's a great dreamy element. Some parts sounding almost middle eastern. I think a lot of that is Mary's use of dulcimer, which for The Bewitched, is a primary instrument. That among other things, does distinguish them.
My favorites from this album, I'll confess, are the 1st 2 tracks "another day, another life" and "small world" which I recall them playing live when I saw them, which was sadly maybe 2 or more years ago last.
I know they spent a great deal of time writing and recording this record, and among other things, the production seems to show that. Am I blown away by it? no, not really. But it has a really nice mood and flow to it. And I'm not just saying that due to the fact I know them and consider them friends, nor that they are from Minnesota. I think the extensive time they spent writing and making this album shows.
Best Minnesota record of 2012? unlikely, but probably will be among my top 5-10 at least, and 1 I will revisit, especially since Mary said the other day on facebook they plan to have hardcopies at a show this coming Summer. Maybe The Bryant Lake Bowl again? or maybe even a place like The Ritz Theater.
And I still think they should try and play a gig with Jenny Dalton or maybe even Cloud Cult at some point. We'll see, but in the mean time, i'm enjoying this album and am very happy for them to finally see it come out. This week though, ironically, among the 8 or so other records just on my radar alone.
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