School of Secret Dangers (CD)
A School of Secret Dangers is a campfire album with indie swagger; replete with songs that thrive on understated instrumentation and charming production values. Released after her gorgeous and critically celebrated Hi-Fi debut (The Places' The Autopilot Knows you Best), A School of Secret Dangers recalls Springsteen's Nebraska, a testament to the power of good songwriting recorded simply. This collection was handpicked from several seasons of self-recording using vintage World War II era microphones, short wave radios, and glorious analog tape. The result is a nest of an album with nostalgic melodies, autumn leaf vocals, cozy instrumentation, and the beautifully-odd interwoven found sound. Amy Annelle blends the voice of a nightingale with a hard-scrabble lyricism of Edith Frost.
| Tracklisting | |
| Disk | 1 | |
| 1 | Birds Start Talking English |
| 2 | Broke Down |
| 3 | Ugly Stray |
| 4 | Will Try |
| 5 | Anchorage |
| 6 | Soft City |
| 7 | Idaho |
| 8 | Love Song for a Comet |
| 9 | Litch |
| 10 | Nothing |
| 11 | What Is It This Time? |
| 12 | [Untitled Hidden Track] |
| Jove D'Anconia
- Portland , , USA |
| I love this album. Amy Annelle's sweet, breathy, country-spiced melodium is the perfect companion, be it naptime, on the road, sipping Sunday morning coffee or out walking through the rain. Her songs are quite often unmistakably country/folk styled, sometimes more directed towards the indie-folk arena, but are always original and touching. If I had to make one of those ass-brained combo-comparisons, I guess I'd say it's like a non-over-produced Elliot Smith crossed with a less morbid Chan Marshall, hiking near some humble wooden cabin in the heart of any northwestern national forest. Songs about love, death, animals; if it's acoustic melodies and genuine feminine vocals you enjoy, you must have this record. It really is that good. | |