Kimchee Rec.
Tiger Saw : Gimme Danger, gimme sweetness (US,2004)**°'
I do not usually prefer shout-your-ego-towards-me singer-songwriters ! But that doesn't mean that all quiet and introspective singersongwriter expressions are as easily to grab, just from the musical mood of their music. The first groups and individuals who expressed themselves in this way produced honest expressions from an inner need to express themselves this way, ie. from a personal vision. Nowadays that's not so clear any more, because all areas have become exploited and assimilated into fashionable areas. Soft lo-fi recordings, (Nick Drake ? etc.) become such empty standards, even with more exceptance of a similar vulnarability, compared to what made these first examples so strong and musically acceptible, and in content and in the depth of the expression of what they are able to express, which was part of the uniqueness...
This release in some way is also a kind of indie rock : a sympathetic family-nursery-rhyme-rock. We hear male/female dual vocals with basically bass, minimal drums (with eventual minimal organ, glockenspiel,and a few other instruments, like cello towards the end..) and it expresses itself like a small-spotlight podium-art performance. What can this term "rock" mean with a basic singer-songwriter album -if this is one- ? It might mean that with the "rock" the music musically can stand on its own, and also, that it might not matter if the words in the end really matter much, because with rock they can just sound great even if there's not much meaning. "Rock" could also make the words stand out better, or make the music work well as a whole. In the case of this CD the words seem to matter, but at the same time might also be an excuse or another element in building the music. In this case the music itself works just perfectly. It’s hard to say if there's much more sung outside an occasional I-care-for-you-and-you-also-care-that-we-care and that's-how-we’re-here-like-we-are. I'm very slow in catching all the words but I didn't notice much yet beyond this mood of a vaguely nice-sense of existence, like a hug expressing this moody atmosphere at a night concert or something. One track, “West of the sun” has more attention given to the instrumental expression, with guitars and cello,...(=nice). Some favourite songs near the end are “All my friends are right here with me”, and “the sweetest goodnight” get some cello as well. Overall it’s a really enjoyable mood-album.
