Customer Reviews

For the Swan in the Hallway

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here jeff kelly takes off his green pajamas and goes naked. but seriously, my incredible sense of humor aside, mr kelly has made a fantastic recording, juggling a variety of tempos throughout a feast of catchy, trippy pop-psychedelia melodies. he, and the green pajamas, both deserve a large audience. so help serve the cause of justice and buy this and all the green pajama recordings. an action that will score you many karma points.

Green Pajaman Jeff Kelly says that "For the Swan in the Hallway" is, unlike 2001's Catholic-guilt-wracked "Indiscretion," about desire, and indeed from his yearning vocals to the loping rhythms that tug at you like a child's needy hand, this album is infused with longing - the kind inspired by a trip abroad. Which is what Kelly did recently, and in the doing, the songs came to him. Ditching his day job's penchant for neo-psychedelia, "For the Swan in the Hallway" is a mostly strum, mostly plaintive and reflective record that, like, say Westminster Abbey, has regal edifices covered over with the bluish dust of age. Kelly's way of singing is not about bowling you over; rather, in a self-effacing fashion, nudging you, which makes it all the more charming and enchanting. He puts it to especially good use on the ballad "The Depth of My Desire," which he likely knows he could never explain well enough in two minutes and 30 seconds, but somehow nearly does. Says Kelly, "Tetleys, cigarettes and extremely stimulating conversation in a dark 300-year-old pub" informs "The Swan on the Hill," and a thing of grace it is - along with a bit of menace, which swans can be. "Oxford Street" recalls a sunny spring day, one, alas, that's not without dread: "The afternoon is brilliant blue / filled with a vibration / still I feel a cold anonymous sensation," Kelly drawls out wistfully. These are ruminations of an outsider looking in. The best place for any artist to reside.