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Re: Your Brains - Jonathan Coulton
(Performed by Stephen Torrence)
Happy Halloween, Merry All Hallows’ Eve, and a glorious Samhain to you from all of us at Celtophilia! in lieu of candy, we hope that you will accept this hilarious video, featuring American Sign Language, and a zombie.
Artist: Marc Gunn
CD: Heart’s Ease
Reviewer: Julie
My very first review on Celtophilia and they gave me an instrumental CD? Pretty big challenge! At least the artist is Marc Gunn and I already have a lot of respect for him and his musical abillities. His CD, Heart’s Ease, is a compilation of fourteen songs played entirely on an autoharp. Never heard of an autoharp? Not surprising. Neither had many others before becoming acquainted with Marc’s work, both solo and when he was a member of the band, Brobdingnagian Bards. (For more information on autoharps, click here. If you’ve never listened to an autoharp, you should really give this CD a try. You would never imagine the extensive assortment of melodies achieved using only one instrument.
If you aren’t hooked by the first song, Stardust Serenade, don’t give up. The first song was a little long and monotonous, repeating the same lines over and over; however, Marc makes it work with his use of feeling through changing dynamics.
Heart’s Ease was by far my favorite. To me, it was light-hearted, lively, and cheerful using a wide variety of tones. It was one of the shorter songs and was over long before I tired of listening to it.
She Vanished in the Mist was a very lovely, yet melancholy song that put me in a solemn, thoughtful state of mind.
Desire…do I even have to go there? Out of the whole CD, this was the thorn in my side. I gave it chance after chance by listening many times, and I couldn’t learn to love it. I completely respect it for what it is and I’m sure Marc put his heart into it as all of his other songs, but it just wasn’t for me.
Wildflowers of Party Field literally made me want to run, skip, and jump over a hill covered in wildflowers. What a wonderfully happy tune! The next time I am feeling blue, I’ll be sure to pop in this CD and turn it up so I can flounce about my living room and turn my attitude around!
There were a multitude of very interesting notes and sounds in Return to Lonely Mountain. It was a very entertaining song and not nearly as sad and lonely as you might gather from the title.
I enjoyed this whole CD more than I would have imagined before listening to it. Marc has a brilliant selection of both the merry and the somber to suit whatever your current mood, whether you need some cheering up or had rather drown in your own sorrow. Go ahead and draw a tub of water, (don’t forget the bubbles), light a few candles, and prepare to relax and soak up some autoharp.
Disclaimer: I purposely saved this for the end of my review so I could warn you not to read it until you’ve listed to the CD on your own. I certainly wouldn’t want to ruin your opinion or cause you to hear something you wouldn’t have otherwise by sharing my insight of one of my favorite songs on the CD. Listened already? Okay, read on…Summer’s End had a different feel to it. Call me crazy, and Marc, please forgive me, but this song totally made me think of Lightning Crashes by Live. I’m not saying it sounds just like it or anything to that extreme, just reminiscent. Please don’t think it’s a bad thing because I thoroughly loved this tune! Please, Marc, pretty please…don’t hate me!
Well, now that I’ve completed my very first CD review, feel free to critique me. Disagree with me? Let me know! We at Celtophilia are starved for feedback, so any opinion at all is welcomed. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed a new perspective enough the guys will let me hang around and feel useful a little while longer.
I get it. This is a strange time for an introduction. If you’ve been around for any length of time, you’ve seen Julie around. Whenever I need a beautiful person to take photos of, she shows up. There she is, back at St. Pat’s, sporting her Guinness t-shirt. Cute, huh?
Get to the point, Mike. Oh, right. Well, see, here’s the thing. Anyone who was paying attention might have noticed that Bonnie and I have been a WEE bit unfocused lately as to writing reviews. The fact is, several of our good friends have written to us asking ever we were even still doing reviews. The answer is… well, yeah, we MEAN to be, but life keeps getting in the way. So, in the interests of spurring the two of us laggards to actually write reviews, schedule interviews, write interview questions and the like, we’re bringing a responsible adult onto the team. I, for one, think it’s about time. Bonnie has been leaving her dirty dishes all around Celtophilia studios, and it’s time someone made her clean them up!
Ok, seriously, what does this mean? For one, it means a third reviewer. You can expect her first review to come rolling out sometime next week. For another thing, it means one more Celtophilia.com person to follow on Twitter. It also means actually having someone on the team who is willing to simply walk up and talk to people. If anyone ever introduces themselves to you as “that person from Celtophilia.com,” there’s a good chance that it will be her. Lastly, it means ANOTHER Twitter box over in the corner of the screen! I know you’re thrilled about that, right? Right? RIGHT?
Anyway, Bonnie and I are thrilled to have her aboard, and we look forward to new shenaniganery (new word, I’m claiming it) in the days and decades to come.
Slainte!
M
PS - for those of you into symbolism. Yes, there is some meaning to her Twitter widget being the white one between Bonnie and I. =)
I get it. This is a strange time for an introduction. If you’ve been around for any length of time, you’ve seen Julie around. Whenever I need a beautiful person to take photos of, she shows up. There she is, back at St. Pat’s, sporting her Guinness t-shirt. Cute, huh?
