March 19, 2008
Sad Songs, Lush Sounds
David Ford is distinctly British in that he has no problem mixing orchestral arrangements with spry pop and boppy dancehall melodies, sometimes within the span of a single song.
His latest album, Songs For the Road, consists of nine songs that don't stray, lyrically at least, from the topics of love won, lost, and lamented. Nothing really new there, huh? But the music behind the songs is a carefully crafted joy to listen to, and that's where we think Ford's true talent blossoms.
So that's why we're curious to see Ford's live show, since he pulls a Jon Brion and constructs all the songs via live looping on stage. So we'll have a chance to see him build up his arrangements from scratch right before our very eyes, and that should be a treat.
David Ford opens for Bell X1 at Schubas tonight, 9 p.m., $10, 21+
Photo by Barney Britton from Ford's MySpace page
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fair warning: ---this has nothing to do with this post---
i've resisted making a comment about the toyota corolla posts, because the very first one caused such a knee-jerk reaction in me, especially when i noticed that i was unable to make a comment on it. i understand the need for advertising on the site, and don't have a problem with general concept. what i *do* philosophically object to is tying content up in an ad, and then tying our hands so we can't discuss what's in it.
as these posts have gone on, they've had more and more interesting and useful content in them, and things that i've often felt compelled to comment on ... except i can't. it's a bummer, especially when i know that chicagoist strives to create an atmosphere of lively discussion and community and hopes to inform, entertain and engage their readers on a wide variety of subjects.
anyway, i'm writing on your post because you wrote the last installment of 'living the dream,' and i had no clue that you could ask starbucks to make you a cup of free trade coffee. if you do that, and they open up a bag, and they don't use it all, does it go stale and go to waste? shouldn't they be using *all* free trade coffee if they want to make a statement?
Songs about love won, lost, and lamented hasn't been anything new since the troubadours so it doesn't seem much worth noting does it? Yet noting that an artist's songs are primarily about love seems to be endemic in rock critique. I think I've read the same thing about four times in the last month and I don't read very much music criticism.
I keep waiting for bopping British pop that explains how Heidegger's notion of subject-centered reason isn't the completion of metaphysics, but The Pipettes haven't gotten around to releasing it yet. Just a matter of time.
That's not to say I don't intend to give him a listen. Thanks for the recommendation.