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This album is one of the best "follow-up" albums I've ever "stumbled across with apprehension" in my life.
In fact, in 2001 (this album was released actually in 2000 - not 2004), I distinctly recall standing in line at an "old fashioned" independent CD store... and the guy in front of me had this album in his hand amongst others, doing the "hmm, which ones do I really want" type of CD-sorting juggle in line. He then mumbled aloud an "I just don't know" phrase while looking at THIS CD in his hands. I saw it and immediately kicked in with, "Trust me, it's an incredible album... hands down 100 times better than the first one." We talked a few short details and then, when it was his turn, he placed it immediately down as his first to ring up. Months later, he remembered me in the same store and thanked me saying he was glad I urged him to buy it. Turned out "it was unexpectedly the best purchase" out of the 10+ CDs he bought that day.
Yes, this album (for many) has that much of an impact.
Sure, her first album was "radio-friendly" etc, but it was the 90's and many bands had their first album introduction to get their foot into the door (can someone say "Radiohead"?) but what is most impressive is the return value of groups that surprise you with something unique and different - more honest to the core of the artist.
Poe did just that with "Haunted". With her father passing away, the years of her absence since her first album immediately fall to the side. Interestingly (and not unexpectedly) such an emotional impact in an artist's life usually brings on new changes - ideas in style, sound, expression of emotion. All these chillingly came into play with this album, from the beginning to the end, this is one of those rare albums you can easily press play and listen from beginning to end.
Her mechanism this time was a "continuity album". With only a few silent concrete breaks between tracks, this album flows as a work of art with it's "gaplessness" (once again a technique usually underappreciated or impatiently passed over moreso in this century by the radio and broadcasting industries). From the start of sound exploration and environmental/atmospheric setting up of the album's own world while incorporating the very day an answering machine picked up - with Poe informing her mother that her "daddy died today"... mixed with old discovered audio cassette tapes of her late father (Tad Danielewski, film director I believe). The album mentions the tapes were found by Poe and her brother and were literally conversations between them as far back as childhood.
This usage of her father throughout the album, talking with her, in some songs, between songs, with an ending I won't spoil for you: This album is a rare jewel of catharsis! NOT moving around or past a difficult area, but getting her hands dirty and the tears flowing (assumably) and spending a great deal of work in pre- and post-production, this album really does hit you at times with a "haunted" feeling, yet there is blood in that album. Textures, emotions, and the music itself is MONUMENTALLY diverse. I believe some of it being "not radio-friendly" of "radio short" enough led to a typical commercial recording label to cease working with her.
It's a loss for that label (Atlantic Records, I believe) but I personally think it was worth it because Poe did NOT sway toward commercialistic needs. Instead she presented a raw (but very nicely polished-sounding, from an audio engineering/sound quality perspective) album that lasts still as an important piece in my rather vast collection of music.
I seriously hope she continues onward with her music on her own. She may take all the time in the world, just as Kate Bush did for 10+ years in the 21st century, but ultimately I hope she continues to grow, work with and give birth to creative wonders that adorn this album. (Perhaps that may be coincidentally ironic that the cover of "Haunted" has such hints of jewels with the cathartic hands of her younger self... just personal opinion and food for thought...)
I admit: I am partial to many musical artists who take their time (years) between albums (Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack, Recoil, Kate Bush, Meat Beat Manifesto, Trent Reznor, Suzanne Vega, etc...) because the process of artists working hard on creating something truly representative of themselves from their heart/soul, their work and their creativity is usually best reflected when time is taken - delicately finishing the musical brushstroke-like touches on what an artist truly wishes to convey; song by song. And it does take time if you want to present a moment/period of time from your life from which you draw from musically (trust me, as I come from these experiences within the "seemingly crumbling music industry"). It takes time to fine-tune, hand pick/narrow down songs, go through mixing and mastering (sound quality and balance), packaging art/design (I'm a firm believer in the artistic presentation that accompanies any physical piece of music), marketing and presentation for each new "release"... It's usually these albums and artists whom share their labor of love so prolificly that you gain a personal entanglement/experience with such albums. A "personal attachment to" or "relation to", if you will, any number of great things an album has to offer.
Poe's "Haunted" is a very fine example of this.
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Top reviews from other countries
Lilly Penhaligon
Haunting, moving and utterly fantastic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2006
freaky Rene
Ein ganz, ganz großartiges Konzeptalbum...
Reviewed in Germany on February 2, 2016
