Customer Reviews

Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Boston chanteuse Lily Holbrook got her start as a busker -- meaning she started off singing in subway stations and the like, before landing a record deal. Now there's "Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt," her second album, and the first for this label, a remarkably diverse kind of electrofolkpop.

But ignore the the Americana-folk labels that are attached to the Back Porch Records label. This music not that simple, and Holbrook's style is one of those rare ones that defies any obvious labels. Instead, Holbrook sounds like an ethereal fusion of Bjork's offbeatness and Tori Amos' songwriting and vocals. "So you can/strike me with your matches/scatter me like ashes..."

The opening track, the stately and ominous "Welcome To the Slaughterhouse," is like no folkpop you've ever heard before. From there on, Holbrook doesn't stray too far from the ethereal folk sound, with acoustic guitar and some fiddling as the heart of her music.

But she does stray a little bit: quirky distortion pop, ethereal acoustic folk songs, string ballads, and murky light rock'n'roll. There's even some distortion, fuzzy bass, whistles and electronic swooshes here and there, to give some extra flavour to the music. As a result, it sounds a lot like Amos or Kate Bush by way of Bjork.

A quick scan over the song titles shows just how unusual this album is -- one of the songs is an Ozzy Osbourne cover. Not typical folk fare. She even dips into catchy pop in "When In Rome," a sly dig at people who "trying to convince her to be the next Britney Spears." Good thing she didn't listen to them. It's the one foray into pop-as-we-know-it, and Holbrook wisely keeps her tongue in cheek.

It's also one of the few humorous moments -- most of the time, Holbrook is melancholy. "Now I don't know why/she keeps building walls/that leave him outside/she can't find the reason/she's passing through seasons..." she sings sadly in her fragile-sounding voice. I'm not sure if these bittersweet songs are written from her own life, but Holbrook sings them with a lot of passion.

Despite the odd happy song, Lily Holbrook's sophomore album "Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt" is a bittersweet, intense folk-pop album with a dash of electronic quirk. A wonderful listen, and an artist to watch.

Lily has a really amazing and beautiful voice. Nothing
like most of the pathetic stuff they play on the radio.
This is real music. There are a number of songs about
social issues ... Bleed (plastic surgery), Make Them
Wonder (objectification of women), etc. The song
Cowboys & Indians is probably the most beautiful track
while the song Make Them Wonder sounds like the best
song Massive Attack never did. She also covers the Ozzy
Osbourne track Mama, I'm Coming Home and it is
flawless. She totally makes this song her own. Better
Left Unsaid took a few spins to grow on me, but it is
now one of my favorites. The song When In Rome reminds
me of Pat Benatar's song Hit Me With Your Best
Shot. It doesn't really sound like that song, but
something about it (maybe the chorus) brings that song
to mind. Lily gets a lot of comparisons to Tori
Amos and I can see where that comes from, but she
really has a unique sound of her own. This CD is really
worth the money and her first one Running From The Sky
is equally impressive.

Lily has a amazingly beautiful voice . All the tracks on Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt have thoughtful lyrics and haunting melodies. My favorite is the spunky "When in Rome". I recommend that you Run, do not walk, to your nearest store and get this alblum. It will brighten up your day, lighten your heart, and mezmerize your soul. Its just brilliant.

I initially checked out Lily Holbrook because of comparisons to Tori Amos. And while I can definately see that Lily has been influenced by Tori(not a bad thing in my book!) I still think she has her own unique style. Its refreshing to hear someone who writes songs that have real meaning. Songs about ex-boyfriends and love gone wrong are a dime a dozen. This album covers everything from war to plastic surgery to fairies and mermaids. It also has a really cool cover of Ozzy's "Mama I'm Coming Home". All in all, a very worthy purchase!

I just got this CD & been playing it ever sense. Hopefully college-type radio will sit up & take notice! Here, Lily shows her infectious voice can cross into rock/pop as well with my 2 favorite tracks, "Make them wonder" & "When in Rome". Take your pick which one could be a radio hit. "Make them wonder" has an almost trippy distorted vocal that I personally thought of Gwen Stefani in a way. It has a very catchy whistle-like part (that I find myself whistling to). "Rome" has a catchy chorus and is like a modern rocker with an 80's flavor. The slower tracks will draw comparisons to Jewel, Tori, etc., & the cover of Ozzy's "mama I'm coming home" should also create a buzz & surprise many. It's done very well & very unique. She should make it big.

If talent as both a singer and a songwriter equals success, then this CD should be huge. Every song has really thought provoking lyrics. No sappy love songs here. The instrumentation is very diverse and each song has something new: piano, violin, cello, etc. She certainly fits in with the Lilith fair crowd, but this CD really is unique and stands way out in front of anything I've heard in recent years. No amount of studio gimmickery could produce a voice this good. Tori, Sarah, Jewel & Bjork had better watch out. Tracks 3-9 are my favorites.

Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt was far from an instant hit with me. In fact, I was close to not even liking it. My problem was that I heard Better Left Unsaid before actually buying this so I halfway expected each song to be like that or in that same vein of it. Each song is significantly different from the next however, breaking up any sort of monotony that might begin to form.

Lily Holbrook is one of those artists that makes music that either clicks with you or it doesn't. At times this CD is positively mainstream yet at others it's no wonder why she hasn't made it big. When In Rome is probably one of Lily's more mainstream-ready songs, it just so happens that it's her worst effort on this CD though (it's not bad, it just doesn't 'fit' with the rest of the album). Make Them Wonder is one of those songs that is no doubt catchy, but just wouldn't fit with your other well-known musicians. The distorted vocals are used perfectly though.

For me, this is just good, solid, easy listening music. This is one of those CDs where when your life is at its most hectic, you can play this and you'll be at peace. Lily's voice plays a huge part in that effect. While some may say it's not very inventive, I say that her voice, plain and simple, is gorgeous. As for the music, it's not your average acoustic guitar and drums. With this CD it feels like they took their time creating a certain melody to go with a certain lyric. Let's put it this way, there's not a boring part in this CD.

It was a very ballsy move of Lily to put a cover of a classic Ozzy song on here. For my money, Lily does the song even better than Ozzy did, incorporating a sort of female touch to it.

My favorite songs are Welcome To The Slaughterhouse, Better Left Unsaid, Bleed, Mermaid, and Mama, I'm Coming Home. By no means is this a CD anyone could put on and love, I believe that only certain people will like this CD. Don't let my saying that scare you off though, this CD was well worth every penny and I adore all ten songs included. It is a must to go in with an open mind though, if you don't and you end up not liking it, well, that's nothing but a shame.

Lily Holbrook by singin in the subways knows the feelin n understandin of common people...although some of her songs r not that simple...Cowboys & Indians and Make Them Wonder r my favourite ..there is a ozzy osbourne cover also ..but lily has made the song her own ..i love this female ,,,her lyrics ,,music ,,n above all her voice....the best folk electronic i have heard after a long time.....go n grab this cd

My brother discovered Lily Holbrook in a Boston subway and sent me her first album.
I instantly fell in love with her voice and emotional outpourings.
With the release of this second effort, I am solidified as a lifelong Super-Fan!
I had the good fortune to meet Lily twice now. Once was as a soloist one New Year's Eve between trains in Boston. The other was with her band at a club in NYC.
She is personable, energetic, down to earth, beautiful, and a GREAT PERFORMER!
Do buy this CD! Do go see her perform in California (or wherever she pops up next)!
She is really something special. Get ready to be moved by a MASTER!!!

When I heard her Welcome to Slaughterhouse, I fell so completely in love with it I just had to get the whole album. But when I got it, I found I pretty much only love that song, the other ones just didn't capture me as much.

I've got NO problem whatsoever with her voice, truthfully I love unique voices instead of those copying after one another pop artists voices. But alot of her songs just aren't deep enough, didn't have enough dynamic to make me love her. This is honest, and believe me I've given her a fair chance. At times I just couldn't listening on to some of her songs, they just repeates too much without really making the lines truly shine.

I think if Lily work on it, she can produce great things; if she can write songs like Welcome to Slaughterhouse, I have confident that she can make it really big.