Cabin Fever

Rasputina

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 9, 2002)
• Original Release Date: April 9, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Instinct Records
• ASIN: B000063ITI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #110,844 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Rasputina dish up an Alice in Wonderland psychedelia mixed with a Kate Bush sensibility and Medieval-meets-Victorian vibe in both appearance and musicality. The end result on Cabin Fever, Rasputina's sixth overall release since 1993, is charming, if likely too idiosyncratic for mass acceptance. Since Melora Creager (who toured with Nirvana in 1992), formed the band in the early '90s, this New York-bred trio of female cellist-vocalists has opened for Marilyn Manson and Bob Mould, attesting to the diversity and quirkiness of this lineup. On Cabin Fever, from the quavering vocals of "Remnants of Percy Bass" to the revved-up pop-tech stylings of "AntiqueHighHeelRedDollShoes" to moments of music-box delicacy, Rasputina show a penchant for creating wonderful, odd, and old-fashioned vignette-style lyrics and songs. "Quaint" and "enchanting" are not likely words that lead to the cover of Rolling Stone, but that's no matter, as long as Rasputina's considerable and curious charms allow them to invoke more musical magic. --Katherine Turman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alice Liddle Meets The Victorian Squid, April 29, 2002

By	Meyrink (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

Although my Catholic soul trembles at the sin I might or might not be committing by encouraging these poor demented girls, my honesty (decadent as it might be at its source) compels me to state: Rasputina's Cabin Fever is the most fun I've had since my sister and I discovered a glass case filled with dying bees in our grandmother's attic.

Melora Creager's lyrics consist of the finest poetry to be found in contemporary pop muzik-no tedious ambiguities or oblique verse for this gal: she takes aim with words and hits the bulls-eye every time. From the opening "Gingerbread Coffin," which describes some dreadful ceremony in which a fetish from childhood is resurrected into gothic twilight, to the closing, "A Quitter," an ode to suicide that will evoke guilt from the most spotless soul, Melora stitches together genuinely surreal tales (Leonora Carrington-wise) from the jumble she has discovered in some Victorian attic of the mind (aside from the spoken word "PJ + Vincent + Matthew + Bjork," which is quite simply an exhilarating fall-to-the-floor laugh-cap).

Musically, each track opens like a surprise package, filled with cellos organic and distorted, and delightful little (again) demented touches, like the sharpening of knives heard throughout "Rats," the unsettling drum thumps and jingling thingies that punctuate "Cross Walk," leaving the listener with the unsettling sense that these Rasputina girls are up to something nasty in the wood shed. I am not sure that I would want to meet them on some dark street, but when it comes to songs that reflect an individual vision owing sfa to anyone or anything else, I would crawl into their attic anytime.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than I anticipated!, March 9, 2004

By	Maarz (USA) - See all my reviews

I love Rasuptina's first album "Thanks For the Ether" with it's virgin purity from electronic mixings and what not, but I must admit that when I heard "Cabin Fever!" I was astounded at how well the managed to combine in electronic beats and distortions on a few of there songs (not all of them! Some still ring proud with that virgin purity of only using cellos and vocals!). But, I must admit this cd is radically different from "Thanks For The Ether". Here's a track by track following. I'll keep this short and frank.

1- Gingerbread Coffin: I love this song. It's got brilliant music and combines with the cellos a music box which adds enormously to the song. I'm not sure if it's about a magic doll or voodoo, but either is fine with me! Voodoo! How delightful!

2- Thimble Island: The man hunting song! Grah! This song is very catchy and very folky and tons of fun.

3- State Fair: Another song about boys, this one isn't about going out to get hitched to some brigadoon island though. It's got a lot of electronic mixing and sounds almost like electric guitars (I'm going to say exactly, because I they don't).

4- Sweet Water Kill: A very cool song, with cool drums, sound effects and very lulling cellos. The words are great and almost make one think of an irish tradishional song (the words, not the arrangement).

5- Remnants of Percy Bass: This is actually one of my favorite songs on the album. It's a slower and more depressing song, but it's got some absolutely exquisit moments when the cellos and vocals come together in a very pleasing and surprising way. Very haunting.

6- Rats: Love this song. This song has the coolest distortions (like electric guitars again). The humor of this song is almost sickening, it's brilliant. Who else but Rasputina would sing of starving people renaming rats as fish so that they could eat them?

7- Clipped: This is a sad song that brilliantly talks about the world disabling you and starting again by comparing it with clipping birds wings so that they can't fly. The best part is when it changes from "They clipped my wings" to "I clipped my wings", changing the idea of the song saying that sometimes we have to do the hard thing and let go of what we have and try things anew.

8- PJ+Mathew & Vincent+Bjork: This is by far the most entertaining track on the cd. Impersonating the two couples on a double date that goes nowhere. I'm not sure why it's here, it doesn't add or take anything from the album. "Whatever Bjork."

9- My Orphanage: This in another sad song about not really belonging and the only place you have as home you hate. Quite sad.

10- Crosswalk: This is a good song with hard mixing on it that works icredibly well. Very cool words and catchy- super catchy- chorus.

11- Hunter's Kiss: I think that this is my favorite song on the album. It reminds me of a disturbing old horror film with a very cracky filter laid on it to make it sound like it's bad quality. It's especially when it picks up with the cellos and the drums. Very cool creepy song.

12- Our Lies: This song is made up of a troop of lies, and by look of the credits they were ones sent to them by a lot of people on the internet. Very funny and witty.

13- AntiqueHighHeelRedDollShoes: This is a brilliant song of vanity and jealousy claiming repeatedly "Daintier, smarter, better dressed!" In spite. It's very hip actually, I could see this song on the radio oddly enough.

14- Cooped: Wow... This song I must say has no purpose being on the at all, but as it's not even a minute long I don't count it. It seems to me to be people watching a um... odd Yoko Ono performance. In the end I can't help but agree when they wisper to each other "They really have balls to expose themselves like that!"

15- A Quitter: This is the saddest song on the cd. It's about trying so hard in the world and never succeeding, and giving up. It's brilliantly done really, this melody is sad and pretty and the music in the background is mostly one cello playing one simple part. If you let the song continue playing after it's done to about 5:30 a hidden track plays. A lullabye Melora wrote for her baby, who I believe is talking baby gibberish along with them.

This actually is a really golden record! I'm much more impressed than I thought I would be. I'm very excited for Rasputina to continue on in this fashion in their later releases.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cabin Fever! - Come Inside, April 11, 2002

By	"unclefritz" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Cabin Fever! is an aural funhouse. Throbbing and inviting, it stands on the fringe of the largely stale carnival that is much of today's music. Sonically more varied than previous Rasputina releases, CF! holds a surprise around every bend. The unmistakable amber voice of the cello is still queen, and it swims in a stereo realm so intriguing that the lyrics are easily overlooked--until Creager's gorgeous voice, at once lusty and innocent, draws the listener into the mysteries and magic of her stories. Gritty, mechanical rhythms dissolve into gorgeous string figurations, supporting poetry that embraces the nonsensical, the literal and the profound in a web of rich vocal harmonies. Sometimes poppy, sometimes danceable, sometimes punk, CF! is quintessential Rasputina--a marriage of the electronic and organic that mirrors the beauty, humour and horror of life. It teases, seduces, deceives, inspires, nourishes, and heals. Do not miss it.