Search - Heather Duby :: Come Across the River

A rare vavoom

Craig L. Gidney | Washington, DC USA | 01/04/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dear Ms. Duby:This CD has become one of the most listened to in my collection. It is a perfect balance of ethereality and earthiness, catchiness and sonic exploration, with just the right touches of ornamentation. The lyrics are clever, personal hard-won observations. Your vocals have a husky edge to them, no doubt in part due to your voice-threatening bout of tonsilitus. The new husk in the voice gives your interpretations a gravity, conferred with the Dew of Wisdom. I'll demonstrate:MAKE ME SOME INSOMNIA flirts with lo-fi indie rock before soaring into icy heights on the bridge. The double-tracked vocal is angelic and sweet. Great line: "To rely on anyone else is like sinking for the fun of it--there's no one, no help."THE RARE VAVOOM is a midnight cabaret piece, with a startling and effective trumpet solo that sounds almost mariachi-influenced. "Would you break my knees, make me kneel and pray..."THE BLUE SHOES is a slocore lullaby with a soaring chorus, complete with cricket chirps. "Off to bed, dreamless dead, you cannot keep mocking me..." Summer reminscience, the undercurrent of sweet regret.PROVIDENCE is catchy enough to be a single. Again, you make regret sound so good. "Never was one to lay blame, til they took her from me."Your echoey ballads, COIN JAR and AUTO IMMUNE are almost neoclassical in their execution. The phrasing is tentative, heartbreaking, and the lyrics have a self-deprecating air about them, that remind me of Jane Siberry and Suzanne Vega, though not in any way I can put my finger on.GOLDEN SYRUP is a self-affirmation hymn that ends this song cycle. It's like a piece of '20s ragtime, discreetly updated with words that daringly flirt with the sentimental.In short, you more than deliver the promise you showed on POST TO WIRE, your excellent debut. ("FOR JEFFREY" helped me tremendously when I lost my father and my aunt within a week of each other). Special kudos to the song titles--they should make any 4AD afficianado lick their lips. Please keep creating.Sincerely yours,
Ethereal Lad"

A brilliant collection of songs

M. Brown | Cardiff United Kingdom | 01/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Those who are familiar with Heather Duby's first album, are in for something of a surprise with her follow-up. There's almost no trace of the ambient electronica that dominated on her first release. Instead it's piano, cello, guitar . . . a far more natural sound. Also absent are the near-operatic vocal flights of the former offering. But Heather is a special and mysterious talent. This is a great collection of instantly memorable songs. She seems to give her songs titles that bear no obvious connection to the contents of the songs. So the brilliant opener is called Make Me Some Insomnia; we'll never know why it's called that, but it is. The third track has the brilliant title, The Rare Vavoom. It's a peculiar number which I cannot really describe, other than to say there's a looming and disturbing darkness hanging around it, offset by an attractive melody. With quite a few of the songs, they start off as one thing, then end up as something else. It's both refreshing and beguiling. Which can also be said of her lyrical approach. Heather's lyrics are often elusive. This time round, she doesn't even bother printing them. Though what one makes out, is quite dark for the most part. The second half of the album loses a bit of the first half's dynamism, with a couple of more pop-oriented numbers, but then pulls it back with the last two superb tracks, Auto Immune and Golden Syrup. Auto Immune sounds like a superior Lisa Germano piano song, almost breathtaking in its melodic simplicity and directness. Golden Syrup slightly resembles melodically, Lou Reed's Perfect Day, but is obviously better than that song. It's a very beautiful and uplifting song, and we actually get Heather singing, 'Too-ra-loo-ra-loo my friend', which doesn't sound as bizarre as it seems. Every song on this album is tight, focused and individual. Whereas on the first album, the tracks stretched out into luscious soundscapes, here we get the opposite; we get the bare bones, the working machine. This is the kind of album Lisa Germano should have brought out, instead of the uninspired and clumsy work she released in 2003, which signalled perhaps the death knell of a talented but flawed artist. The difference is, Heather can actually write real and sharply effective lyrics. When she sings 'Don't go look for that long lost daughter/She's gone to the river of your disease', she sings it with real purpose. She has precise and meaningful things to express, although quite often, the listener is not really certain what they are. As an artist, she is both accessible and remote, simultaneously. The music suggests accessibility, the lyrics often suggest otherwise. She will no doubt remain a real enigma, and no doubt this album will be heard by only a small fraction of those who ought to hear it. I suspect alot less than heard the first album, which is a real shame, because Heather is a rare talent. This was one of the most original and compelling releases of 2003. It deserves to be widely listened to. But it obviously won't be. Which sadly reflects the state of the contemporary music scene only too well. Buy this album if you care about originality in music."

Long awaited great album

M. Brown | 03/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have gone to see the band many times in the last 4 years, and is obvious a lot of hard work went into this album. The songs are beautifully crafted and accompanied by a great cast of musicians. Two thumbs up to the dedicated band and their songwriter/leader Heather Duby. Bo Gilliland's bass playing really adds a distinctive nuance to this album, and is solid and interesting as usual. The vocals are sweet, melodic, ghostly, and internal. This album seems a bit less pop driven than her first debut, maybe more personal. I don't know. Im sure its all personal. Anyway. Glad too see it finally released. A fan from Seattle."