Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: creative
  • Music: Talis Kimberley, "One Big Sea."

The soundtracks of our lives.

I listen to music constantly. Like, constantly. If I'm not playing MP3s on my computer or listening to my iPod, I'm listening to the music in my head. I listen to classic rock and modern rock, folk music of all kinds, filk music, soundtracks, heavy metal, country, indie rock, and goth. I listen to damn near everything I can get my hands on. And with all of that, it's reasonably rare for an album to crawl so far under my skin that it becomes a part of me.

Talis Kimberley's Archetype Cafe is one of those albums.

Many of you have bought Wicked Girls, for which I am hugely appreciative (and not just because it gets them out of my house). Well, that album would not exist without Talis. She inspires and drives my songwriting in a way that very little else does; every lyric I write is put together using lessons I've learned from her. The title track of her album, "Archetype Cafe," posits a gathering place for history's women that would be a perfect fit for my own wild and wicked girls. See for yourself:

"Lady MacBeth said to Helen of Troy
When they finished the wine they'd been drinking,
'I'm all for regicide once in a while, but
Helen, dear, what were you thinking?"
Helen smiled back enigmatically, for she'd
Never much cared what her friends say,
And the Ladies' Historic Society meets
Down at Archetype Cafe on Wednesday..."

Vixy and I sing "Archetype Cafe" together sometimes, when we do concerts in the same place, and it breaks my heart and heals my heart a little bit every single time.

I'll be honest: even if every other song on this CD were bad, terrible, no good, and wrong, I would recommend it just for "Archetype Cafe" and "Small Mended Corners." But none of the songs are bad, or terrible, or no good, or wrong. They're all different flavors of amazing. If you enjoyed "Wicked Girls," or Vixy and Tony's "Thirteen," this is really an album that you need to hear.

Archetype Cafe is available through CD Baby.

I love Talis madly, but that's not why I'm posting this. I'm posting this because this album is amazing, and you need to know that it's out there. To close this entry, and illustrate my point, have a verse from "Small Mended Corners":

"There are women I've been who you haven't seen yet
There are women I shall be who you've never met
As to who I am now if you're prompted to ask
I'm the ghost of my future and the sum of my past..."

Love.
Tags: filk, good things, people make things
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  • 109 comments

anderyn

September 9 2011, 14:40:31 UTC 5 years ago Edited:  September 9 2011, 14:42:13 UTC

I adore Archetype Cafe! My fave song on that album is "Cassandra", which kick-started a novel I'm in the process of writing.

Though I bought mine on iTunes, 'cause I don't have a physical copy. Hmmm. Perhaps I should have a physical copy... But then I'd have to have a physical copy of Thirteen, too. Augh, so many songs, so little space!


But any time you want to recommend something, I'm all ears. I've gotten far too much cool music from recommendations by artists/writers and I love to find more.

Edited for stupid coding faults.

seanan_mcguire

September 9 2011, 14:43:29 UTC 5 years ago

"Cassandra" is actually on The Hearth and the Hive. Are you sure you have both albums?

anderyn

September 9 2011, 14:50:00 UTC 5 years ago

Augh! Scurries to plug in iPod to see which Talis Kimberly albums she actually has....

Oh. How odd. Only one song from Archetype Cafe is on there. But most of The Hearth and the Hive , plus the two songs I bought from her website ("Goodnight Sarah-Jane" and "Appleby Fair"). For you, I have most of Wicked Girls and some of both Red Roses and Dead Things and Stars Fall Home . Of course, this is only what's on the 16gig iPod, which can only have a small selection of the collection.

talis_kimberley

September 10 2011, 11:35:44 UTC 5 years ago

There are just the two full albums/alba in print, but I'll be adding to the Bandcamp page more regularly, and the new album is coming along well - thank you for your kind words and support!

anderyn

September 10 2011, 15:45:51 UTC 5 years ago

Oh, excellent! I will friend you, if I may, so I can keep tabs on the new album. I didn't manage to find your music back when I was going to SF cons more regularly, so I don't have access to the older music. *sighs*

talis_kimberley

September 13 2011, 12:34:21 UTC 5 years ago

Please do! I FB more regularly than I LJ but I do write up my adventures at gigs and so on here from time to time.

'Queen of Spindles' has no release date yet but it will be very much a follow-up to 'The Hearth and the Hive' with a slightly folkier feel and more quince jelly. :-)

talis_kimberley

September 13 2011, 12:46:58 UTC 5 years ago

Btw, I'm thrilled that 'Cassandra' kickstarted something in your own creativity!