Illustration by Chandra Viola
This morning I woke up sick – emotionally and physically sick. And upset with myself, cheap because I knew that partly it was my own fault. The early spring sun and the frizzy breeze that would invite everybody else to go out and enjoy the fresh air just didn’t work for me. And in this antithesis of moods between me and the environment outside my room, tadalafil I put on Sarabeth Tucek’s Get Well Soon. And for the first time (despite having listened to it for so long since I got the pre-release in the post) I appreciated it fully.
The second album of the Florida-born, buy information pills Brooklyn-based actress-turned-singer is a therapeutic album indeed. After the success of her self-titled debut two years ago, the fragile songstress got overwhelmed by the fame and things started to precipitate. And apparently the death of the father made her touch the bottom. But music came into help and rescued her from the dark abysses of depression. Music as self-therapy, then. But despite the introspectiveness of the album, the 12 tracks that form the narrative of Get Well Soon address to every soul that can empathise with them, and their message has a healing power for everybody who’s open to let it in. Easy comparisons come to mind when listening to Get Well Soon – Cat Power, Neil Young, Big Star and even The Breeders, just to name a few. But there’s something truly unique about Sarabeth Tucek, that may lie in the genuineness of her grief that transpires from the notes and shades of her voice and hits the heart.
Illustration by Chandra Viola (website under construction)
The opening track ‘The Wound and The Bow’ is a little prelude to the album while ‘Wooden’ truly sets the mood for the whole record, with its enchant of mournful games of chords gently plucked that intertwine with Sarabeth’s bittersweet voice until it opens in a warm old school rock anthem Pink Floyd would be proud of. ‘A View’ is another little gem of melanchonic sweetness. Voluptas dolendi, the Latins would say. ‘You and I, we share a view’ the lyrics go. And I look at the view through my window – a cheeky cloud attempts to cover the sun, but a ray pierces through and I wonder whether ‘he’ is enjoying the same spectacle from wherever he might be in this moment. When ‘The Fireman’ – a autobiographical ballad describing a dream Sarabeth had about her father – kicks in with its more upbeat tempo, I start thinking about my own dad. And I suddenly realise I miss him and his funny grumpiness that has always got on my nerves causing one too many unnecessary arguments.
State I Am In.
‘Things Left Behind’ is in my opinion one of the most heart-breaking songs of the entire album, a sadness that’s hard to bear – ‘you wished yourself right off the map into the air / and if I’m looking hard, you’re above me now / hanging on some little star’ – but Sarabeth’s voice gets so gentle and touching that it makes it impossible not to listen to it 3 times in a row. ‘State I Am In’ opens with languid droney guitars, another classic rock tribute. It’s one of the most upbeat tracks of the whole album, and seems to prelude to the songwriter’s personal resurrection from Hell, which is confirmed by the splendid ‘Rising’ – ‘through a break in the window I can see something is shining’. I can see it too.
Illustration by Chandra Viola
This morning I was sick, I said. And I knew that part of the blame for this was mine. Illness is all about inner pain. And the more you mourn about your pain, the worst it gets. Sometimes you only need to recognise your faults and absolve yourself to feel better. ‘I knew I was sad / I recognised it was bad / but now looking back / I see my mind, it was cracked’, the lyrics of the startling Get Well Soon go, accompanying me to the final redemption. The sun is caressing my cheeks through the window. I open it, and let the fresh air come in. The birds sing along the last notes of the eponymous closing track. I jump on my bicycle and go to join my friends at the park. I’m well now. Thank you, Sarabeth.
Get Well Soon music video
Sarabeth Tucek will play at Camden Crawl and will headline a show in London at the Slaughtered Lamb on May 19th. She’s also beein added to the bill of End Of The Road Festival in September and also Oxfordshire’s Wood Festival in May. Get Well Soon will be out on Sonic Cathedral on 11th April 2011. A gem not to be missed.
Categories ,album, ,Bob Dylan, ,Brian Jonestown Massacre, ,brooklyn, ,Camden Crawl, ,Chandra Viola, ,Death, ,End of the Road, ,Florida, ,Folk Rock, ,Forgiveness, ,Get Well Soon, ,guitars, ,Music as therapy, ,Pink Floyd, ,Redemption, ,Sarabeth Tucek, ,slaughtered lamb, ,Sonic Cathedral, ,Wood Festival
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