so i guess i'll just put something up to fill the space..
oh hrm.. bought the latest Corrinne May cd recently - Safe In A Crazy World - after looking forward to it for like foreverrrrr... i really enjoyed her first album - Fly Away. her albums are really wonderful to listen to while just "drinking coffee and dreaming", as this guy writes in his review of one of her 'live' shows in the US. she's just got this soothing Sarah Mclachlan kinda voice that goes really well with the easy-on-the-ears sentimental ballads she writes and sings.. the pieces are often just really simply arranged, centred around a piano or guitar line.. but at the same time, she's not afraid to try out more up-tempo pieces, often with really quirky lyrics.. (clement insists the lyrics are not "cute", as i had put it earlier..) yeah, the other thing abt Corrinne May is that she writes beautiful lyrics, ok, not really beautiful per se, but she writes in a way that makes you see something you've known all along in a new and refreshing light.. and i just really like the way she puts things..the ballad-y songs just bring you into this -surreal- kinda mood.. and 1 or 2 songs in her first album made me tear a couple of times during certain times in my life.. an exerpt:
what if i woke up, and couldn't hear a sound?
and all that i could see, was darkness all around?
that would still be nothing, compared to what i'd feel..
if you didn't love me.
- If You Didn't Love Me
heh and her up-tempo songs just make you (me) feel like grinning...
i don’t know what you do to me,
but every time i’m with you it’s a natural high..
it’s like rediscovering Eden,
with chocolate coated rainbows and cotton candy skies..
and every time you look my way,
i wish i had the guts to say:
there’s something in your eyes, something in your smile,
something in the way you move me..
you make me want to sing, you make me want to dance,
you make me want to cry, i’m falling in love with you
i think i’ll hire Cupid,
to make you see i’m more than your friend.
you’ll be tossing and turning,
counting the hours til’ you see me again..
and when we meet you’ll kiss my hand,
and say the words i want to hear
there’s something in your eyes, something in your smile,
something in the way you move me..
you make me want to sing, you make me want to dance,
you make me want to cry, i’m falling in love with you
- Something About You
yeah.. but i was talking abt her second album.. frankly speaking, i'm a leeeeeetle bit disappointed in it.. the songs are still really enjoyable, and so are the lyrics.. but i think it just lacks a leeetle bit of that something new.. Corrinne May's offerings from her 2nd album are almost exactly the same as those from her 1st album.. would have loved if she'd just tried something new, something that gives listeners a pleasant surprise.. that little refreshing 2nd look at the artiste and discovering something new.. would have just made the album so much more satisfying and complete.. oh but i love that this album has a bit more in the way of nice piano lines and riffs (i know guitar riffs.. is there such a term as piano riffs? but yeah you get the idea).. sweet. :) an exerpt:
I try to smile my tears away,
I try to keep my cool.
Oh but one more door gets in my way
I feel like such a fool
Trampled and bitter,
My heart just wants to bleed and stop Believing in me.
It feels like nothing is for certain
and that nothing comes for free
When they're lowering the curtain to the theatre of my dreams
I stumble and i crumble and I'm sinking to my knees for you
You cradle me
You keep me flying
You keep me smiling
You keep me safe in a crazy world
You understand me
Embrace my fragility
You keep me safe in a crazy world
And in your arms I find the strength to believe in me again
- Safe In A Crazy World
yup.. and the best part is that.. she's singaporean (!), though based in LA. its just great that FINALLY i can name some singaporean singer/songwriter who produces decent enough songs, and not stuff so completely commercialised or too indie alt you can't figure out what the song's supposed to be abt.. granted, some of the lyrics might seem a little fluffy, but the way Corrine May writes about her love and faith in such a way that's perfectly acceptable to the general secular world without really very purposefully or deliberately pandering to commercialism and popular demand is quite inspiring.. (she's STILL an indie artiste making the pub and cafe circuit in the US, and has just set up her own record label, tho distributing with musicstreet and some other distributors in taiwan, hk, japan and US, she probably won't be indie very much longer, oh pity.)
but ok, lest you think i'm simply GUSHING abt Corrinne May, i'm not okayyyyyyy. i really enjoy her music, but i just also think we should support decent singaporean artistes.. its completely sad that local artistes see the need to go overseas to launch their careers, as if they need to prove themselves in a foreign place before their own country-pple can accept their music. and its just so... hypocritical... to proudly proclaim that the singer is local! oh she's singaporean!! after she's made it big overseas and get her to come back and like.. grace events, sing national day songs.. whatever. and the worst part is, everything turns out so commercialised so as to appeal to the masses and so they can make it big overseas.. and urgh. sad lar.
ok so anyway, i think the album Safe In A Crazy World grows on you.. and to listen to Corrinne May's 1st album, you can go to her website (already linked above, or in my sidebar).. you can find her 2nd album out in stores now. so.
all songs mentioned in this post are copyrighted by Corrinne May
