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
...go 3 levels up... Expand

seanan_mcguire

September 9 2011, 15:47:07 UTC 5 years ago

Which one?

trialia

September 9 2011, 15:56:58 UTC 5 years ago

Goodnight, Sarah-Jane. Sang it at open mic for a Who-fan friend's birthday party and she cried - which, with that song, is a good thing, right?

After that, the guitarist who accompanied me, who's already in another band, said he'd like to record it with me, so I have to email him again with Talis' contract template. :) All shiny.

keristor

September 9 2011, 16:26:43 UTC 5 years ago

If anyone doesn't cry at that song I doubt they are a Doctor Who fan. She also wrote one when Jon Pertwee died, I don't know if she can actually sing them together but I'm certain that I'd be a puddle on the floor if she did.

trialia

September 9 2011, 16:28:49 UTC 5 years ago

*nods* It's a beautiful song, and yes, I cried the first few times I heard it myself. It's hard to sing it, even, but worth it. That said, I can see it not making people tearful if done badly enough.

(I don't actually have a Sarah Jane icon, or I'd use it. I'm an obsessive River fan though ;))

talis_kimberley

September 10 2011, 11:43:40 UTC 5 years ago

That would just be *mean*...!

Hugs!

talis_kimberley

September 10 2011, 11:42:34 UTC 5 years ago

Which reminds me I must get that template to you, Trialia. Thank you!

trialia

September 10 2011, 16:12:47 UTC 5 years ago

Thank you, for being so great about it! :)

I need to message Tim again, I think he just hasn't had time to reply to the one I sent him after you sent me your last message. I think the template'll be fine, but I'm leaving it up to him, as I've said above here. He knows more about the technical side than I do. Thanks again :)

talis_kimberley

September 13 2011, 12:40:51 UTC 5 years ago

You're truly very welcome.