Music Review: ‘Something Fierce’ by Marian Call
Ever since Dragon*Con earlier this month, I’ve been listening to Marian Call’s Something Fierce CD, which I purchased from the artist herself right after the Parsec Awards ceremony. I first heard her music at the 2010 Parsec Awards, and I eventually bought a couple of her songs from iTunes, including I’ll Still Be a Geek After Nobody Thinks It’s Chic (The Nerd Anthem), which includes a line that I wish I’d written:
I have been a nerd since my first five-syllable word
Brilliance. If you get the chance to hear her perform live, you may get the impression that she does primarily humorous songs (her karaoke song is hysterical.) As I’ve listened to Something Fierce, what has struck me is that these are (for the most part) serious songs, though some are light-hearted. Even some of the light-hearted songs pack some bite:
Well I had a good time sweetheart, that’s for sure
Well I wanna thank you for all your trouble
But if you lose my number now I won’t complain
‘Cause you’re my avocado baby — only only good for one day
‘Cause you’re my sushi baby — only only good for one day
Or this:
Oh, I wish I were a real Alaskan girl
Because I hear that they kick ass
Oh, it’s easy to see why a local woman’s in demand
The guys have to queue up for years to hold your hand
I’d find me some big burly bush pilot boy
I would hook and reel him in and fiancé him
But if he ever double-crossed me or tried to do me wrong
I wouldn’t hardly hesitate to skin, gut, and filet him
Contrast that with the picture she paints to the driving beat in Temporal Dominoes:
He likes the smell of the incense / she likes her Indian food
The sweltering subway so intense / not a gesture is left unpursued
‘Cause they’re not in the mood to miss miracles
Culling their half-baked assumptions / paradigms toppling untried
Demolishing decades-old hunches / with their eyes all unraveled and wide
At the top of the tide / and nowhere to hide
One of the sweeter songs is Highway Five. Marian Call is from Alaska, and this is her ode to the Pacific Coast Highway:
This is my coast, this is my home, from San Diego up to Nome
Haven’t seen it all yet but I will
And I want to memorize it, every inch, want to remember where I’ve been
I bless these waves, I bless this wind, I bless this grace and all my sins
I love the “I’m okay the way I am” spirit behind Whistle While You Wait:
When it’s the first time you could get to West Hollywood and you’re slathered in sunscreen
And you drive really slow, so you know that they know that you’re another Joe with a dream
And you’re wearing your old secondhand blue jeans
And you keep turning your head at limousines
And everybody else looks so damn pretty
And you’re feelin’ extra grungy and extra indie
Oh it takes a little effort to hold your head up straight
To dress just like you want to, to whistle while you wait
It takes a little effort to not avert your eyes
To trust that you belong there — it might just be yourself that you surprise
The album opens with the happy vibe of Good Morning Moon:
Good morning Moon, love, how you doin’?
I’ve got business with you today
Good evening, Sun, I’ll see you soon
I wake on my own terms lately
Who’s to say we’re upside-down
Who’s to say we’re falling if we miss the ground
Who’s to say we’re going nowhere
If we like spinning ’round and ’round?
Musically, her vocals remind me a lot of Joni Mitchell circa Court & Spark. The arrangements are tight and the production is never over the top. I recommend this CD to anyone looking for intelligent songwriting and creative melodies. If you get the chance, check out her live act (her tour schedule is on her home page.) I saw her twice this year at Dragon*Con — at the Atlanta Skeptics party and again at the Parsec Awards. She brings humor and energy to her performances, at which she plays somewhat unusual percussion instruments (manual typewriter and rain stick.) I hope she makes the trip east to Dragon*Con every year.
Any other Marian Call fans out there? Chime in in the comments.
