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

talis_kimberley

September 10 2011, 11:52:33 UTC 5 years ago

I seem to have completely spammed your comment thread, Seanan... sorry, dear! But these nice people were saying nice things... :-)

seanan_mcguire

September 10 2011, 15:33:24 UTC 5 years ago

It's all right! I totally understand, and I'm glad there were nice things for you to reply to.

ohari

September 12 2011, 17:44:15 UTC 5 years ago

Hello! I didn't know you were on LJ! Thank You for writing these wonderful songs, and for being the kind of person that all these people I know and respect can love so much.

I have some odd hearing loss, there are some ranges I can't hear at all and some that sound distorted (I do a lot of lip reading when I talk to people). Unfortunately, your singing voice falls into them, and so it's really hard for me to make out lyrics when I listen to your CD. Electronic reproduction seems to change voices enough to really make it worse (though just amplification mostly makes voices easier to pick out, I think because it tends to flatten a little), so I am hoping to see you live some day, somewhere, and really be able to hear! I wanted to tell you that, in case my comment below came off as something hurtful. If I'd realized you were here to have seen it, I'd have clarified when I said it. Happy Monday!

talis_kimberley

September 13 2011, 13:04:38 UTC 5 years ago

That's a shame, Ohari! It's a good thing that some other lovely people sing my songs then... I do try to make sure the lyrics are available on most of the things I release, and I'm always happy to be asked 'What *is* that bit in the third verse...?'

Thank you for being so sweet about what you said here - I'm not hurt at all.

I wonder whether my lower ranges are any easier on your ears?

Happy Tuesday!