What I Want: More Shelley Segal
My Thoughts on Her Album ‘An Easy Escape’ and Other Releases. Part 2 in a series.
If you’ve read my last piece on her music, then you’ll know I adore Shelley Segal as a singer and songwriter. And at this point I’d like to say that everything Shelley has released has been supremely appealing to me but I can’t do so. Though no less well executed, her live album with Dan Barker — ‘Live at Audio for the Arts’ — is more relaxing than energizing. Dan departs significantly from his regular musical fare to accompany Shelley on piano for a series of standards done in a 1950’s Jazz club style. Combine his capable musical skill with a sultry voice a la Shelley and you have a collection of songs that would make drifting off to sleep as much of a relaxing comfort as any day at the beach. That said, this set of songs with Barker just doesn’t grip me in the same way that her other releases do.
Another release, a split album with a gentleman named Adam Levy, called ‘Little March’, has some music that fits well into a blues/country ‘Middle America’ motif, as well as a selection of songs that fit well in the jazz club vibe consistent with the afore-mentioned live album with Barker. I appreciate that, on the whole, it has a low-key tone, but the musical motifs throughout are not consistent from song to song and this makes for an uneven musical experience. As such, this is probably my least favorite of her releases; not because it’s a bad album, per se, but merely for the fact that some of the musical styles employed throughout are not exactly my cuppa tea. The jazzy stuff is certainly agreeable but Country music is one of my least favorite forms, so it’s harder to enjoy anything that attempts to emulate it. That said, if I could recommend two tracks from this release, they would be the last two — ‘Forbidden’ and ‘Hurry Back’ — these being the two liveliest tracks on the album, though the latter is better experienced in the context of her follow-up album.
One thing I will say for ‘Little March’ though, is that the packaging design is first rate. It’s simple, it’s warmly colorful and it makes me feel that this is how the world should be, speaking as an artist. Which takes us into the main focus here, as excellent product design is also a factor in my enjoyment of her next album ‘An Easy Escape’. The whimsical product design is beyond fun and it is arguably the most musically diverse of her releases, not to mention the meatiest in terms of number of tracks offered.
The introductory piece ‘What I Want’ speaks of the virtue of following your own star and not bowing to the pressure of contrary opinions. It starts with a sultry vibe anchored by a slightly uneven Jazz bass progression. In physical terms, I would describe it as a casual strut with hint of jangle in the step. By itself, this vibe could be very tedious when carried over a full track but she moves from verse to chorus in such a way that the casual strut becomes a full jog and then returns to the strut again. I can’t help but move my head back and forth at the utterly delightful upbeat feel of this song. It’s pure musical magic and I dare say it makes the album all on it’s own. I would also dare to say that it has the power to heal emotional agony because I’ve found myself in marathons sessions of this song alone in an effort to rectify my own inner turmoils…but that’s a discussion for my therapist.
It is also a special song for me because of my complicated history as a musician. Before I gave up playing music, I struggled often with my inability to grow my talent. I was never very good at playing by ear and that caused me a lot of distress over the two decades and change I spent trying to be a talent I could admire. Over time, this deficit reinforced my thinking that I was never really a ‘player’ but merely a parrot, a musician able to emulate others, quite well in some cases, but never able to formulate a singular style of my own. Before the end, though, I did put some serious effort into developing my ear and was able to figure out how to play two notable songs on the bass merely by listening — ‘What I Want’ and ‘Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby’ from Counting Crows.
Musically speaking, the next track ‘Morocco’ comes close to a Rockabilly vibe as Shelley relates a lyrical tale of the adventures she’s had in a far away land. The verses have a beautiful bebop bass motif that helps them morph wonderfully into an more conventional, straight-forward rock sound on the choruses. This is what I call the ‘party’ track of the CD, in that you’d definitely want to use it to energize the crowd if ever there were a lull in enthusiasm.
Shelley follows this with two musical tales that caution against certain untoward assumptions. The first is a bittersweet, country-esque plea against emotional malfeasance called ‘Don’t Play With My Heart’, which concerns itself with how one might abuse the trust another might want to place in a serious relationship. The second, ‘King of Mine’, relates how one should never judge the worth of a person on the basis of initial appearance. It starts, almost eerily, like No Doubt’s ‘Don’t Speak’ but departs significantly in musical terms after the intro. Despite the departure, though, I could easily see ‘King of Mine’ having a place within the overall musical theme of Gwen & Co.’s ‘Tragic Kingdom’ album.
With track 6, we get a better rendition of the afore-mentioned ‘Hurry Back’, where Shelley hits us with an overt dose of classic 80’s country that would fit well on any Reba McEntire or Judds album from the same era. Before that, though, she gives us what is, for me, a very wonderful offering of 90’s alternative pop in ‘Hitchhiking Song’ that comes off like a combination of Crash Test Dummies and Hootie and the Blowfish, with a dash of Counting Crows tossed in for flavor. It might be a fantasy on my part but this song instills in me a longing to see her duet with any of the three singers from those respective bands…on anything…even if it’s a YouTube video of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’.
This is how powerfully nostalgic ‘Hitchhiking Song’ is in my mind. It has a bass track highly reminiscent of any of the upbeat tunes released on ‘August and Everything After’, ‘God Shuffled His Feet’ or ‘Cracked Rear View’. The harmonica is also very evocative of that which features in the Crash Test Dummies song ‘Afternoons & Coffeespoons’. The solo puts my mind to Deep Blue Something’s ‘Breakfast at Tiffanys’ but I’m not certain why. The styles differ significantly but I know there’s a musical relation there that I’m missing; will have to ponder that further. All in all, I just can’t express how enjoyable it is to listen to this song. It may be cliched to say but ‘Hitchhiking Song’ makes me feel young again in many ways.
The next two tracks, ‘Big Fish’ and ‘Big Bang’, play very much like combined set of mellow, bluesy acid/psychedelic rock songs performed by Janis Joplin and The Doors with The Grateful Dead as a backing band — lots of guitar, plenty of bass and decent helping of organ. She then segues into a Bob Segar-esque tome in ‘Answering Machine’. At least it would be so if Bob Seger had been a New Wave artist in the 1980's… Maybe that’s an inaccurate assessment but what stands out for me on this song is that the vocal inadequacies I noted in ‘Afterlife’ from ‘An Atheist Album’ seem to have been rectified in the two and a half years between these two albums. Her confidence as a singer definitely seems more elevated here.
She ends ‘An Easy Escape’ with a hidden track that is a simple one-minute vocal and guitar piece asking for honesty from someone special but the actual listed ‘final’ track, ‘Wish I Was Cool’ is a rousing joyride through the agony of a difficult relationship, carried by a heavy Latin beat reminiscent of Enrique Iglesias. If you want to dance and get your blood flowing to the vital organs, this is the track you want…trust me…
As far as full albums go, ‘An Easy Escape’ is by far her best release. Her subsequent offerings are more akin to EP’s than actual albums but they are no less remarkable in terms of the execution. What makes ‘An Easy Escape’ remarkable though, is that it is the first of her releases, in my mind at least, which demonstrates well her ability to grow and mature as a musical artist, beyond what came before. Hopefully, this sophistication will be ever more apparent as we travel farther down her road and sample the music ahead, so be sure to stay tuned for my thoughts on those releases.
For Part 3 in this series, visit this link.
