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Ed Harcourt
I wish I could tell Ed Harcourt how much crap I've put up with from people for liking his music. I think he'd understand -- after all, this is the guy who jokingly called himself "the Oliver Reed of indie rock" (as well as the "Donnie Darko of the piano") and then was forced to defend those off-the-cuff comments in interview after interview after the quote appeared in his press bio.
Personally, I think Mr. Harcourt is totally dreamy enough to be the Oliver Reed of indie rock. I reallly like that idea: Sensitive, broody, boozy, and a little creepy and edgy underneath his veddy proper British exterior. His music's got the same quality -- it's polished and deceptively simple piano-based pop on the surface, but there's hidden depths that sneak up and surprise you when you're listening on the headphones -- much like the music of sympatico pals Nada Surf and Sondre Lerche.
I admit, though academically I knew Ed Harcourt's first two albums, Here Be Monsters and From Every Sphere, were good, they didn't really grab me. They weren't great. Yet I defended him at every turn, because I could see some potential there. His new album, Strangers, is that great album I've been waiting for. It's full of unabashedly booming, melodramatic heartbreak. And you know, I just cannot resist that kind of thing. I am powerless against it.
There's just something really charming and goosebump-inducing about a string section rocking out on the bridge of a song that's a sweet and sharp-toothed fuck you to love ("Let Love Not Weigh Me Down") or the peppy, jaunty hook of under a bitter song about being alone, aptly titled, well, "Loneliness," or the odd-couple pairing of an asthmatic pump organ and melancholy, lilting lyrics on "Something To Live For."
Maybe it's just because I've been feeling a little stressed and frazzled lately, but repeated listenings of Strangers has been the soothing salve that's made scraping through the day a little more bearable.
Ed Harcourt - Loneliness
Ed Harcourt - Let Love Not Weigh Me Down
Ed Harcourt - Something To Live For
Ed Harcourt's offical website. Buy Loneliness from Amazon.
Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll at 02.18.05 at 2:20 AM
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