On Weather Station's seventh album, Canadian Tamara Lindeman went so far as to create the 1920s equivalent of Court and Sparkthe Joni Mitchell album that many modern indie artists dream of approaching. It's called Humanitywonderfully mixes pop, folk, rock, jazz and ambient, poetically recounts moments of personal crisis, transition and catharsis.
Many texts by IgnoranceWeather Station's highly acclaimed 2021 album, were dedicated to the impending disaster caused by climate change. This time he faces personal problems. “I've gotten used to feeling like I'm crazy or just lazy / Why can't I get up and think straight?” Lindeman sings in Neon Signsa reflection on trying to make sense of a world in which experience, desire, the idea of community and passion are alien or commodified things. “Everyone swears they need you / And only you to make that purchase.”
The rest of the album is about finding an escape from this situation. In Window the music soars as Lindeman sings about literally climbing out the window to get a clearer view of things. Body Moveswith its enveloping groove, church organ and gently crescendoing melody, is about the way we try to trick ourselves into feeling better than we actually are. The title track starts with a sound that may recall gamelan music and then transforms into an invocation that talks about finding catharsis by swimming on a crowded beach, a kind of personal and ecstatic version of the baptismal imagery typical of the blues tradition.
Irreversible Damage it begins with breathing exercises and becomes a monologue on the need to come to terms with personal and environmental collapse on a melody halfway between Stereolab and Rickie Lee Jones. The slow and silent Lonely it begins as a reflection on how sad loneliness is and then focuses on a reassuring image: playing in your favorite bar with some trusted friends.
This sense of community emerges in the dense textures of the music, which is intricately arranged but always characterized by organic interaction, particularly in the way Lindeman's piano and Karen Ng's horn accompaniment meet the the energy of the band's excellent rhythm section.
In the six minutes of Sewingwhich closes the album, Linderman stitches together the scraps of an idea on how to continue moving away “from pride and shame, beauty and guilt.” There are only his piano at a low volume, some drum hits, a strange and light orchestral touch. “All I can do is sew it all together into this thing I'm doing with you,” Linderman sings. It doesn't matter what comes out of it. What matters is that Humanity it's one of those records that gives the feeling that this happiness is deserved.
From Rolling Stone US.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
