Deliciously Haunting (Haunted - Poe)

Member Name: delawney

Product:	Haunted - Poe
Date:	26/11/02 (440 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Weird, Brilliant

Disadvantages: None (in my opinion!)

THE QUICK REVIEW (For those in a hurry)

Fancy something a bit bizarre? Bored with all the usual pop and rock and fancy something a bit more challenging? Give Poe a listen. It's an enjoyable and rewarding, if a little confusing, experience.

Apart from the fact Poe's obviously just a little bit nutty (in a nice way) two other things make this album a little bit different. First, it's the use of a number of cassette recordings and answerphone messages featuring her dead father's voice. Second, it's the fact that inspiration for many of the songs on the album is taken from her brother Mark Danielewski's book "House of Leaves" - a masterpiece of the weird in its own right.

It is virtually impossible to categorise Poe's musical times. At moments she is a rock queen, and then she's soft, gentle and thoughtful. Then she'll just be downright bizarre. There are singalong numbers. But there are also songs that involve real, active listening. It's worth the effort.

Standout tracks include "Control", "Walk the Walk", "Could've Gone Mad" and "Hey Pretty".

Poe combines an outstanding voice with a unique creative musical and lyrical talent. This album is a masterpiece, and should adorn every self-respecting music lovers collection. But don't take my word for it. I'm a bit weird too ;)


THE FULL OP

Anyone who's read my other music ops can't have failed to notice the reoccurance of weird girlie singers who produce interesting and bizarre music. Poe is no exception. I'm extremely enthusiastic about this album so you'll have to forgive me if I go on a bit - you can always make do with the quick version!

I discovered Poe through two separate recommendations; first by good old Amazon telling me that if I like this I might also like that (I hate the way they do that - they make m
>e spend so much money!) and second through a music mailing list of which I'm a member. A listen to a few tracks later and I was hooked. Darn - parting with money for CDs once more.

But the good news is the parting with money was well worth it. This (Poe's second album) has become one of my favourite CDs.

Poe writes all the lyrics and co-writes all the music. Lyrics are always an important part of an album for me, and in this case the only disappointment for me is that they are not included in the CD booklet. Fortunately, they are available on the internet. She combines a number of different musical styles from rock to pop to jazz to latin. That said, although she professes a love of hip-hop, I can't really pick out the influence here, although you may beg to differ!

Now I might be a bit sad but for me one of the joys of getting a new CD is the experience of flicking through the booklet. In the case of this album it is an artistic and informative experience. On the artistic side, there is some marvellous and intriguing photography. On the informative side, it helps you understand some of the music you are about to listen to. Poe explains how she discovered a box of tape recordings of her (now deceased) father's voice, and how elements of these tapes have been incorporated into the album. On the penultimate page, Poe lists the songs on her album and the page references they relate to in her brother Mark Danielewski's book "House of Leaves". This bizarre and intriguing book (I've written an op about that too - apologies for the blatent plug!) has inspired a number of songs and elements of songs on this album. Indeed, many of the song titles are explicit references to the book. The two are inherently entwined, so you'll have to forgive me for making further references to "the book" throughout this review.


*** EXPLORATION B ***

"I thought you should know
.
Daddy died today."

The album opens with this curious piece, which is not a song, but actually a recording on Poe's mother's answerphone. It is kind of haunting, and really sets the tone for the album ahead. The title is a reference to "the book".


*** HAUNTED ***

"Don't cry,
There's always a way
Here in November in this house of leaves
We'll pray"

And so we move onto the title track, and the first "song proper" on the album. As with a lot of Poe's tracks it is quite difficult to pigeon-hole this into some sort of genre or style. It has elements of pop and rock, but there's something a bit more creative and unusual about it. This is one of the more sing-along tracks on the album, and is a nice opener. It ends eerily with the sound of her father's voice.


*** CONTROL ***

"You thought you could keep me from loving
You thought you could feed on my soul
But while you were busy destroying my life
What was half in me has become whole"

"Now I have taken control
Now I have taken control..."


This is one of my favourite tracks on the album. It rocks! It's bitter and angry, but it is also positive - she has come through the experience and found inner strength. I love the sentiment behind it. This is one to turn up and shout along to! There are some absolutely smashing lyrics in this track - I've had to resist the urge to reproduce them all here as there is rather a lot of them! If you are interested in the lyrics a link to a website featuring Poe's lyrics is included at the end of this op.

Once more, the song finishes with a recording of Poe's father's voice. As it is quite profound I felt it worthy of inclusion here:

"This cannot be all that there is to life, because in our confrontation
with an enormous and cold
unive
rse, there is something comical to the idea
that we can really enforce our will on humanity. Power...corrupts!"



*** TERRIBLE THOUGHT ***

"A terrible thought has moved into my mind
Like an unwanted room-mate drunk on wine
It feeds on my happiness won't pay the rent
I must take proper measures to evict it"

After opening with a delightfully distorted guitar, the verses are kind of swingy and jazzy. This is certainly more mellow musically than it's predecessor. I wasn't too sure about this one at first, but it's kind of quirky and it's really grown on me. It has curious contrasting shifts in sounds, but it really works. The music seems to echo the sentiment of the song - it seems to skip about like your mind does when you're thinking about something you don't want to!

As seems to be a pattern, it ends once more with recordings of her father's voice.


*** WALK THE WALK (a.k.a Beat of my Own Drum) ***

"Mother spent ten years sitting by a window
Scared if she spoke she would die of a heart attack
She listened as her dreams silently screamed
They drowned like little dolphins caught in a fishnet"

"Dear world i'm pleased to meet you"

"Hey everybody when you walk the walk
You gotta back it all up can you talk the talk
Hey everybody when I hear the knock
Don't wanna measure out my life to the tick of a clock"

Another one of my favourites on the album. This is loud, upbeat, funky and above all positive. I love the affirmations of "Dear world I'm pleased to meet you". This song is all about knowing who you are and living true to yourself.

It ends with 'daughter''s voice: "There's someone knocking in the wall, was it an echo? ba da pa pa" - a direct reference to "the book".

A s
mashing track.


*** TERRIFIED HEART ***

Again, not a song as such, although Poe does sing. Another message on her mother's answering machine. This works as in interesting link to the following track.


*** WILD ***

"I go wild
'Cause you break me open
Wild
'Cause you left me here
I go wild
'Cause your promises are broken
Wild
Don't you get it dear
You're not the only one who runs on instincts
No I've got instincts of my own"

A more thoughtful number than some of the earlier tracks. Poe focuses more on mood here than volume. There's some lovely sounds and mixing in this track reminiscent of William Orbit's style, but still very much Poe. This is a track full of conflicting emotions - we can sense an anger in it, but it is not as blatent or loud as tracks like "Control" - it's more considered.

This is a long track (9 minutes), and about halfway through it suddenly gets quite weird. There is a heavy, funky dancebeat, in contrast to the more steady pace of the song to this point. Poe's voice can be heard repetitively like an excho in the distance. It is both weird and enchanting, almost hypnotic. It can make the track as a whole seem disjointed, but somehow it seems appropriate. It climaxes in a bizarre cascade of distortion. I love it!


*** 5&1/2 MINUTE HALLWAY ***

"I live at the end of a 5 and 1/2 minute hallway
But as far as I can see you are still miles from me
In your doorway"

The title and indeed the song itself is a direct reference to "the book". The hallway grows and changes, and it can be very difficult to leave.

The song is quite gentle and almost lullaby-like, which contrasts with the lyrics exhibiting confusion along with a sense that the subject has accepted their fate. The themes of echoes (which also occur throughout
"the book") are apparent in this song.


*** NOT A VIRGIN ***

"I'm not a virgin anymore"

"I just thought you should know
Darlin' I've been around
Yeah, I've been up and down your block
In fact I have been all over town
Down by the lake
And underneath the table in my living room
Outside by the blue blue moon"

After the weirdness of the track before, this is just a darned good rock song. I gather from stuff I've read on websites that the lyrics are aimed at a partner but also at her father - who whilst extremely intellectual was perhaps lacking in the emotional side.

There is some humour in the lyrics, along with a brutal honesty.

A great one to sing along to - but perhaps not too loud - what would the neighbours think?


*** HEY PRETTY ***

"I can't forget I am a sole architect
I built the shadows here
I built the growl in the voice I fear
You add it up but to do better than that
You've got to follow me
Boy I'm tryin' to show you where I'm at"

This is the first version of this song to appear on the album - the "Drive-By 2001" mix ends the CD.

Once more we have references to "the book" in the lyrics - such as "the growl" referred to above.

But all references to "the book aside", this is a darned good funky rock track - albeit with a rather bizarre contrasting jazz bridge prior to the climatic chorus. Marvellous.


*** DEAR JOHNNY ***

"Johnny dear don't be afraid
I will keep your secrets safe
Bring me to the blind man who
Lost you in his house of blue"

Again, more of an interlude than a song. The lyrics above are mixed in feint and distant, with masses of distortion. This is probably a direct reference to the character "Johnny Truant" in
"the book".


*** COULD'VE GONE MAD ***

"Another day and I could've gone mad
Another day and it might've gotten bad
Another day and I might have betrayed
Every scruple I have I'm so glad you decided to come"

This is another of my favourite tracks, so I guess by now it won't surprise you to know it's another loud and rocky one. That said, the verses are actually kind of funky. It also includes what is possibly one of my fave lyrics of all time: "If I decided to make you my religion, I think God would be kind".

Upbeat and funky with some excellent guitar sound. Of course, it wouldn't be a proper part of this album if it didn't include a brief snippet of Poe's father: "I've been inside her house. I've experienced her madness. And I rejected the entire experience".


*** LEMON MERINGUE ***

"Stop right there before I get bitter
There's got to be a better way!
There's got to be a way to make it sweeter
A little more like lemon meringue"

Being vegan I wouldn't touch a lemon meringue myself, but I'm not going to let that put me off this song - this is a fab little number. It has a jazzy, funky edge and it makes you want to sway. Top stuff.


*** SPANISH DOLL ***

"A memory guilded in red and gold
Spanish doll: de oro (of gold)
Beauty guarded and never sold
Spanish doll: cuidame (protect me)
I keep it with me wherever I go
And I love you still"

A gentle, thoughful song, complete with acoustic, spanish guitar. Not surprisingly it hass a latin feel to it. Poe's delicious voice really shines through in this song, really having the chance to shine against a more austere musical accompiment than we see on most of the album. Gorgeous.


*** HOUSE OF LEAVES ***

Well, you don't get a
more direct reference to "the book" than a track named directly after it. Again, this is not a song, but an interlude - a discussion between father, mother and daughter against a background of acoustic guitar and eerie noises. Having read "the book", it almost makes you feel like you are there in the house and it is quite haunting. Smashing stuff.


*** AMAZED ***

"I'm amazed
When push comes to shove what I'd give to you
Everything
I'm amazed
The hallways I wouldn't mind crawling through
And I'd do it for days and days"

There is a long section in "the book" dedicated to discussion of labarynths, and plays on the word "amaze" and linking it into "mazes". Discussion on websites suggests that Poe has adopted the same play on words throughout this track, and it makes it all the more fascinating to listen to. Of course, we have the references to hallways and the like once more, again linking in with "the book".

This is another more gentle, thoughtful song, but it does have more "loud bits" than tracks like "Spanish Doll". It also features some wonderful sitar (I think!).

You could almost get lost in it!


*** IF YOU WERE HERE ***

"If you were here
You would know how I treasured every day
How every single word you spoke
Echoes in me like a memory of hope"

Just Poe singing and a gentle acoustic guitar here. Very thoughtful and atmospheric, and again a wonderful showcase for Poe's voice. Not surprisingly, it also features more recordings of her father. Beautiful.

"It's OK, you can go now"


*** HEY PRETTY (Drive-By 2001 Mix)

So, back to one of the tracks featured earlier on the album. This time instead of the verses, we have Poe's brother Mark Danielewski reading passages from "the
book",
with the choruses from the original mix. This was the track that encouraged me to investigate further and purchase the book. I actually prefer this version to the original track. The passages Mark reads are a little risque - so much the better ;)

Rocky and bouncy, we have this on a compilation tape for the car, and it's an excellent driving track, and a smashing climax to the album.



All in all, this is a stunning album. It is not just a great listening experience, although it is that in it's own right. It is also creative, thoughtful and intellectual - it's almost like the music is only a part of it. By no means do you have to have read "the book" in order to appreciate the album, indeed I'd had and enjoyed it for ages before I ventured off to read "House of Leaves". However, having read the book does give you a fuller appreciation and understanding of some of the songs and their themes.

For some people, this may have to be an album you get into. It can have its bizarre moments, and it can take time to fully appreciate them and their context, but it is really worth it.

If you like female singer songwriters like Fiona Apple and Paula Cole, and fancy something with a bit more of a bizarre twist, Poe may be the girl for you!


"Haunted" (2001)
FEI/Atlantic 7567-83362-2
Produced by various people including Poe, Matt Wilder, Olle Romo and Matt Wallace.

Read the house: "House of Leaves" by Mark Z Danielewski, Pantheon Books 2000

Listen to the house: www.p-o-e.com

Poe lyrics available at www.alwaysontherun.net/poe.htm (thanks to that site for the lyrics included in this op)

Purchased from Amazon for £11.99

Summary: