trisweb.com

Let me try to put this album, Brooke Waggoner’s new “Heal for the Honey”, into words. This is difficult, please bear with me.

Most albums are like candy. You’ve got some that are like skittles, where it’s all sweet and tangy, or pop rocks (which works amazingly well with this little analogy) or a snicker’s bar, or M&M’s, or really good dark chocolate, or the mixed jellybean bag where only two or three flavors are actually worth eating and the rest are just filler. But most albums are pretty much candy - you’ve got good candy and bad candy, but it’s all pretty sweet.

This album is like really smooth milk chocolate with a 20 karat diamond embedded in it.

Let me explain. At first, especially if you’ve listened to Brooke’s EP (and you should, right now - it’s amazing and free on her web site), you will bite into Heal for the Honey and think, hmm, this is a little different. It’s not quite the same as before, some different flavors here, some synthesizer, but it tastes good so far. then you get to the end of the first track and hit that moment, that shocking moment, when you discover a diamond - a real diamond - that moment when shivers run up and down your spine and your mouth hangs open in awe of what just happened - of what a simple piece of music can do - of the sheer emotion bound up in it.

These are the moments that make this CD. They are immaculate and amazing climaxes, perfectly arranged and using the full power of sound to bring forth every bit of power that music can hold, and perfectly balanced with the poetry behind them, and well contrasted against everything around them. These are moments that other music very rarely gets close to achieving, and she does it in 7 of 10 tracks here! Maybe it’s her classical composition training, or the fact that she’s a piano virtuoso and not just a great singer, but somehow she puts into her music the amazing power that’s always been possible in this genre, and you can imagine what kind of album that makes.

Coming down from that music-induced high, let me say it did take me a little while to really like this album - some of the lyrics are slightly repetitive, which I’m convinced she does intentionally for contrast, and the songs are something new - but once I did listen to the whole thing all the way through, I really *really* liked it. First, understand: this is not a continuation of her EP. This is not an album where all the tracks sound the same. They all have a distinct personality; same basic stylings (sometimes) but they can be whatever they feel like being. There are two that get stuck in my head. There are at least four that give me shivers down the spine every time I hear them. There are three that are sad and optimistic at the same time. Two are poppy and fun. All of them are easy to listen to and coherent. There’s not a bad track, only ones that you don’t fully know yet. They’re complex; not good or bad, but both at once and sad and beautiful and sometimes amazing. How much more real does it get?

And in the end, that’s what it comes down to. This is a complex and beautiful set of songs done by a woman who knows music so well that she can just play with it and put real life into it and amazing things happen.

I’m desperately trying to find bad things to say about this album, because I sound like a fool giving such a gushingly positive review, but it’s really hard to find something to criticize. It’s like finding a diamond in your chocolate, remember? This album is solid. Each song is such a coherent and well put-together work that I almost feel like you can’t take any part of anything out or change anything to get something different and still have the same song. They achieve a little bit of humanity, and that sort of puts them on a different level from the average. But, it’s still just music, and it’s about relationships and life and the same stuff as the rest — it’s just different, unique, complex, and really good.

So, it’s hard to put into words, but basically, somewhere in “The Wrong” around 3:19 might be part of the meaning of life. Listen and you’ll understand.

– Update –

Okay, so reading that though and listening to the album through just one more time, I decided I was a little overzealous with my praise. I attribute this to my crazy tendency to be affected by well-timed musical contrasts, of which there are many in this album, and they are done very well. I do like this album a lot (clearly) but I actually think her first (Fresh Pair of Eyes EP) was better. I liked the intimate style of the EP and the personal, touching lyrics, and the better use of words and music together. This new one seems sort of light on the words and heavy on the power, and there’s a bit too much repetition and that’s ever so slightly annoying.

There, that’s more balanced. I still think this is an excellent album and worth checking out, and it is a level above most others in the genre, such that it actually finds that sweet spot where it has a personality, and that’s saying a lot of music these days.

Brooke Waggoner - Heal for the Honey (iTunes/Amazon/Myspace Site)