Audra Mae - Haunt
Rating
RIYL
Neko CaseJenny Lewis
Marilyn Monroe
The Decemberists
Release Date
10/20/2009
Label
SideOneDummyTracklist
1. The River2. The Fable
3. Eli the Barrow Boy
4. One Silver Dollar
5. Sullivan’s Letter
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Audra Mae doesn’t have an influential back catalog like Bob Dylan, a widely appreciated reputation like Josh Ritter or a dedicated cult following like Bright Eyes. But that’s exactly what makes Haunt a stupefying listen – the kind that makes you blink, rub your eyes, clean out your ears and then listen again to make sure you’re hearing correctly. Mae’s arresting folk croon and penetratingly dark lyrics are shocking for an artist making her debut, demonstrating a level of singer-songwriter proficiency several steps above that of many solo acts in the last five years.
Case in point: apex track “The River” on which Mae proudly confesses, “And I can’t swim / But it’s alright / ‘Cause all my sin will drag me down even if I could,” over orthodox acoustic strumming and a hint of country flavor. Later in the song, she’s borderline sacrilegious when she proclaims, “When I meet the Lord so kind / I’m gonna give Him a piece of my mind / And I’ll tell Him I wanna know why oh why / He’s so damned forgivin’.” That line alone already posits Mae as one of the more daring artists of recent times; she’s ambitious enough to address touchy subjects like religion, and, while still coming off as appreciatory, question the divine.
Her second strength lies in her storytelling tact, which makes up the bulk of the lyrics on the EP. “The Fable” recounts a tale of a man who abandons his lover and the resulting anguish, while “Eli The Barrow Boy” is a The Decemberists song about the tragedy of a merchant. Marilyn Monroe cover “One Silver Dollar” slows the pace of the original tune in order to build a more haunting atmosphere, and closer “Sullivan’s Letter” puts the words of a famous letter from Civil War major Sullivan Ballou into music. It ends up that only the first two tracks have lyrics written by Mae herself, but the remaining three showcase her ability to captivatingly re-narrate stories with her mellifluous voice.
Musically, the non-covers are beautiful, but potentially forgettable, as they rely on folk structure that has been used and reused for decades now. Mae’s vocals and sharp lyrics do a lot to prevent this from doing too much damage to the album, though. If anything, the strong points sufficiently distract you from paying attention to weaker areas like generic chord progressions.
There will be times during the album when you will wish Mae had a little more confidence and filled the album with more original songs. It’s a valid complaint, but remember, this is only an EP, meaning what Audra Mae has in store has the potential to be earth-shattering. And while the EP shows room for development, it can only be good foresight to go ahead and give Audra Mae a lofty spot on any “up-and-coming artists to watch” list. After all, Haunt does give us glimpses of the future – glimpses that are pretty blinding, to be blunt.
--Matthew Tsai
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