Various - Acuarela Songs

  by John Clarkson

published: 22 / 2 / 2002

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'Acuarela Songs' is a first rate double compilation CD, consisting almost entirely of exclusive tracks, that has been released, as a joint venture between the Madrid-based label Acuarela and the Parisian micro-label and website hinah, to celebrate the former's seventh birthday. The English and French equivalants of "acualera" are "watercolour" and "aquarelle", and each of the thirty two bands and artists who appear on 'Acuarela Songs' have been encouraged, as a homage to the Spanish label, to include somewhere "in the title, the spirit or the lyrics" of their songs this word in one of its three translations. Perhaps inevitably, therefore, twelve of the songs, as a result, include "watercolour" in their name, but in what is otherwise a very diverse and eclectic collection, this is the only direct similarity and link. While a few of the bands who appear on this excellent compilation have already previously released recordings on Acuarela, the hinah management team of Laurent Orseau and Eloise Steclebout, who have served as executive producers on this album, have chosen the majority of the remainder of the tracks themselves. hinah shares many of the same musical tastes as Pennyblackmusic, and several of the acts who appear on 'Acuarela Songs' have also featured elsewhere previously in this magazine. Magic 12's evocative 'Neptune' is set against the late night backdrop of a drive home from the beach and uses a fluttering, breezy piano and delicate, but strident guitarwork to tell a bittersweet story of one-sided sexual tension and failed communication. The Willard Grant Conspiracy's dissatisfied artist protagonist on the surreal, and disturbing 'Painter Blue' meanwhile, against the backdrop of a distorted, scratching viola and a repetitive,insistent solitary guitar, drives her car as far East as it can go, and then impulsively crashes it and herself into the sea where she will be "happy in its blue embrace, like the colours she used to paint." Doug Hoekstra's down-to-earth 'Watercolor Rose' is in comparision touched with a light jazz influence and looks back with happy nostalgia on the first horny rush of adolescent love, and a childhood spent playing baseball in the street. There is echoing, dreamy Beach Boys-influenced pop as well from the Clientele on 'North Sea Drive', while the Empty House Cooperative combine avant-garde noise rock with chamber music on the instrumental 'Lilac'. Tracker's 'Water Fills the Bedroom', however, in contrast again, experiments and contorts with a raw blues sound. Recently expanded from a three piece into a five piece, the French act Vera Clouzot's contribution 'La Source' meanwhile is an intense folk rock dirge. Elsewhere Mark Eitzel, far removed from the alternative country roots of his former band the American Music Club, successfully toys around with ambience and electronica on 'Sunset Retirement Community', Mojave 3's contribution 'Krazy Koz' has a gusting Byrds-style country rock sound , while the Dakota Suite's 'The Colour of Water' is a slinky jazz noir number. Paula Frazer's song 'Watercolor Lines', recorded remarkably on four track in her hallway at home, however, combines a country and western acoustic tune with an ethereal vocal. In a recent opinion poll for 'Comes with a Smile' magazine, both Orseau and Steclebout listed 'Acuarela Songs' as their favourite compilation of the last year. While it might be seen in some quarters at two and a quarter hours in length to be too long, and certainly takes several sittings to digest fully, this is very much a fans' record, produced straight from the heart and gut. As well as serving as a perfect introduction to both the Acuarela and hinah labels, it also stands broadly in its own right, and, wide in perspective and range, has something for everyone, whatever their musical tastes. A second compilation, planned for later in the year, already seems like an exciting option.

Track Listing:-

1 Amor Behom Duo : You're Open Housing
2 Mojave 3 : Krazy Koz
3 Aroah : I Row Across A Japanese Watercolour
4 Dakota Suite : The Colour Of Water
5 Knife In The Water: Threads Of Carbon In Watercour
6 Diana Derby : From Where I Sit On The Bridge
7 Greg Weeks : The Waves
8 Doug Hoekstra : Watercolor Rose
9 Early Day Miners : Henshaw
10 Empty House Cooperative : Lilac
11 Howe Gleb : Water Colored
12 Magic 12 : Neptune
13 M Ward : John King's Watercolor Bicycle
14 Tracker : Water Fills The Bedroom
15 Mark Eitzel : Sunset Retirement Community
16 TW Walsh : The Year The Got Away
17 Clientele : North School Drive
18 Paloma : Watercolor
19 Paula Frazer : Watercolor Lines
20 Sodastream : Colouring Iris
21 Emak Bakia : Never Like Graffiti
22 Willard Grant Conspiracy : Painter Blue
23 Viva Las Vegas : Atrevete A Quererme
24 Vigil Shaw : Water Color
25 Vera Clouzot : La Source
26 Court And Spark : Fireworks
27 Nacho Vegas : La Ley Del Feriante
28 Mountain Goats : Saigon Shrunken Panorama
29 Tara Jane O'Neil : High Wire
30 Norfolk And Western : Missed Holidays
31 Sarah White : Camelot
32 For Stars : Water's Colored

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