The thrill of the new: No. 1

I said this blog was going to be partly about music, so it's about time that it was.

Music is a fundamental part of my life. It's a lot like breathing - if I don't do it for a while, the effect isn't pleasant. "Doing music" can mean listening to it, playing it or writing it (pretty much in that order of frequency, sadly). Each has it's own rewards and frustrations.

Recently I've added writing about it to the list.

I'm not claiming to be a master writer by any means. If you want to see really good writing about music (and sometimes other things), I highly recommend visiting The War Against Silence at http://www.furia.com/twas - although the site is now in a state of semi-retirement, there are 500 columns of a unique personal viewpoint to sift through. I've only read about 20 or so at this point and I loved them all.

To me, one of the most extraordinary things about music is the sensation of hearing something for the very first time (assuming the music is any good, that is). For that one listen, you have no reference points, no favourite moments to anticipate. There can be genuine moments of surprise.

Or, of course, it can all be horribly boring and predictable, but I try to filter out those possibilities by listening to singles on the radio and judicious sampling of albums in 30-second snippets before purchasing.

I try very hard to make sure that I am in a situation where I can listen to a new CD properly, rather than having it in the background or interrupted all the time. I find it fundamentally wrong to treat music with that kind of disrespect.

The latest disc to enter my world was a largely unexpected gift from an American friend. It makes it even more exciting to think I might be one of the first people in my country to hear Rachael Yamagata (her debut album is called "Happenstance"), because:

1. As far as I know the album has only been released in America, and
2. This is a damn good album!

RY has a voice that is very reminiscent of Fiona Apple, and perhaps with hints of Norah Jones in there as well. More importantly she has songwriting skills that strike me as well above average. I would rate "Happenstance" as clearly superior to Fiona Apple's debut in that respect, and roughly on a par with Fiona's second album. Of course, the mere fact that I think Fiona's second was better than her first is going to have a portion of you shaking your heads already...

I cannot find a weak song on Happenstance. My only slight disappointment is that the single was clearly designed to BE a single and isn't representative of the sound of the rest of the album, but it's still a good song on its own terms. I'm having great difficulty identifying favourite tracks, which from past experience is an excellent indication that I'm going to continue enjoying this CD for many years to come.

The phase that comes after the first listen is the "getting to know you" part. Exploring and understanding a little more of what attracted me in the first place. Maybe a little mystery is lost along the way, but there are new pleasures as well.

If this sounds like I'm describing dating, there's probably a good reason for that. I think the processes are not dissimilar. So, as of last weekend, Rachael and I are dating I guess. To go with that analogy, I think I can already here wedding bells. I want to hold on to this one...

...although I'm quite sure her giving in to the hidden track phenomenon WILL continue to annoy me.