Customer Reviews

The Rub

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

 

 

Annie Hayden used to play guitar and sing in the vastly underrated band, SPENT. They released two records of which she contributed several songs (there were three songwriters altogether). Spent broke up in '96, and now, the world is blessed with the first solo release by this wonderfully talented songwriter. Comparisons are futile, as she stands alone in her guitar playing and voice. Her songs have a tendency to make me very happy and sad at the same time. Annie can make a melody stick in your head for days. In "the rub", Annie uses reverb and tremelo drenched guitars and acoustic/classical guitar. "Start a little late" opens the disc with an immediate guitar lick that one cannot help but to prick up their ears. "Your tongue, it flickers with a flair. I'm choking on words that hang in the air" she sings. and by the end of the song, the way she harmonizes with herself, you know you're in for a big treat. There is the melancholy, country styling of "Alone", which is just Annie and her acoustic. Here, her voice is aching with heartache as she sings, "I don't know the story of love". "Wood and Glue" is a toe-tapping song filled with piano and trumpet, a high point in the record. The closing song, "Lovely to see", is a mountain of majestic beauty. A mature, inspiring, and skillfully structured song, which climaxes into vocal harmony towards the end. All the eleven songs, including the four instrumental tracks, become quite cohesive after several plays, which make this disc a highly emotional and enjoyable listen. What I especially love about "the rub" are the instrumental tracks because they make her stand out as a guitar player/songwriter. Her voice is delicate as it is strong and intimate, and her words convey hope and despair, a clever duality. Annie Hayden deserves to be recognized. This is a GORGEOUS release!!!

Those of us (too few) lucky enough to know Annie's contributions to Spent remember how her melodies brought her unique guitar work to life...Remember 'Ready OK', 'Bottle Mouth' and 'The Quarter Conspiracy'? And throughout all of them: the quiet but tense vulnerability of her lyrics. But now, on her own, she's come into her own and, damn, it shows. 'The Rub' brings back that voice...it's more powerful than ever but it hasn't lost an ounce of that lovely sadness and composure we remember. And on the arrangments: forget about one-dimensional comparisons to indiepop, folk, country, grunge or whatever...stylistically she's beyond all this. You've gotta go further to explain this kind of talent.

First things first: this album will not knock your socks off. There, now that that's out of the way, let's get to why this album is well worth a listen: it sounds like Annie Hayden and friends are in your living room. The songs have a warm, intimate feel that is as comfortable as a pair of broken-in boots. Rock and roll? Catchy pop hooks? Nope. A good listen, with nice melodies and substance? You bet. Intelligent lyrics and nice instrumentation lend it a nice polish as well, though it is not an overproduced piece of ear candy. Give it a shot.

Not only does she create quietly intense songs, but her guitar, piano and other contributions are somehow both intriguing and spare -- at the same time that the album sounds so layered and full.

She has constructed a sonically warm album that still has edges amongst the velvety lattice. She writes lines like,"Well I admit that I'd be grateful for a custom concrete table" and I sing along. The vital instrumentals fuse the album into an engaging, cohesive whole that passes by too quickly.

Both this CD and the newer disc "Enemy of Love" start strong and grow on you steadily too. Recommended for others who enjoy indie folk, solid arranging, and songwriting all spun together.

I wrote this on a music search site after hearing Hayden's was the voice on the Mercedes Benz commercial. I hope they were mistaken:
I've heard the ad too, but the singer deliberately mutilates "String" into a tuneless and incomprehensible blather, with an apparently purposeful baby-talk delivery. The worst thing since Lauren Hill's best. Don't call this moronic stuff jazz or anything like it. With Hill and now Hayden we are on the precipice of a dead culture, and going down fast!

(A LATER ADD-ON:)
Someone has emailed in to the search site that the person singing in the MBenz com is named Erin O'Hara. Sorry for the error, if it be so. Now let us all put an end to O'Hara's dead-culture noise ... !