Okay, my first post of the morning went up fine. I'm going to post a couple of backlogged reviews, and before too much longer I'll get the poetry fishbowl started.


Thirteen by Vixy & Tony. Vixy & Tony, 2008. Total playing time 1:00:42 CD.

Thirteen is an album of filk and folk music by Michelle Dockrey and Tony Fabris. It hooked me with a single song. I saw the lyrics to “Strange Messenger” (5:25) posted online, and simply had to track down the album. So I’ll start with that, the second-to-last song out of the thirteen. It’s an elegy to a lost language, relating the eerie tale of Humboldt’s parrot. Consider the chorus:

Tell me, bold explorer, as you wandered through the leaves,
Did you ponder unknown losses that the very Cosmos grieves?

Was it halting? Was it flowing? Was it lilting and divine?
Was it fearless as your native tongue, or mercurial as mine?
Would it pique a linguist's interest? Would it hold a poet's thrall?
Did the words of one strange messenger tell you anything at all?

Regarding the questions in the fifth line, there … yes, it did. And the song made me cry. On the strength of this song alone, the album is a must-have for language lovers; but there’s more.

The title song “Thirteen” (4:05) relates the superstition that seeing a flock of thirteen magpies represents a meeting with the Devil. “Six String Love” (4:26) celebrates the allure of falling in love with a musician. “Mal’s Song” (4:24) is a tangy medley of the theme song from the television show Firefly and original additions by Vixy & Tony: a song about picking up the pieces and going on. “Persephone” (4:23) hints of the fond yet turbulent relationship between Hades and his Queen. “Siren Song” (3:44) is about the difficulties a siren faces as a professional singer.

The other songs are “Emerald Green” (5:01), “My Love Was Like the Moon” (4:23), “Apprentice” (6:47), “Red Right Hand” (3:52), “Butterfly Soul” (2:56), “Erased” (4:29), and “Companion” (6:46). Some are fast; some are slow. Lyrics to all the songs appear online. The music is memorable – delicate, flashing guitar work; rich thruttering drums that draw on rhythms from around the world; plus bass, piano, and violins.

Listening to this album is like walking through a raspberry patch: the sultry flutter of sun and shadow through the leaves, the flash of blood-red berries, the sudden snag of thorns. Sweet. Captivating. A little dangerous. There’s no using it as background music; it pulls your attention away from anything else. But it’s worth every minute you devote to listening to it. Most highly recommended.

Tags: fantasy, linguistics, music, review, science fiction
Current Mood: enthralled