Music-induced rapture
When in doubt, get a guest to do the work – the three Melbs chaps have each considered writing about Laura Jean, then shrunk from the challenge. It took Camille Deane to look Laura square in the eye and write about this respected Melbourne songwriter. Camille is a long-time fellow traveller of Melbs: her band Imogen played at our launch in July 2005 and were reviewed on our pages around the same time; she now plays in a band with two of the Melbs brain-trust. On February 17th, she’s playing a solo gig in the comfortable confines of Wesley Anne. Also playing are the Melbs-approved Single Twin and Erica Pringle.
In a recent conversation, I told a man that I was trying to write a review of Laura Jean’s album Our Swan Song. ”I love her music!” he exclaimed at the mention of Jean’s name. We were seated in a Melbourne pub where displays of enthusiasm are generally avoided, but such is the eruptive nature of a genuine response to good music. He followed up by saying that his partner can barely bring herself to listen to Jean’s songs because they are so emotive.
There is definitely something in this. “The Hunter’s Ode” found its way into one of my dreams, and “Paradise Lost” reduced me to a teary state on the way to Foodies. Over the past few weeks, Our Swan Song has stayed with me in much the same way as does the residue of a dream or love. It seeped in slowly, certain phrases fading in and out of my thoughts ever since I first heard them. In the “Hunter’s Ode” I lingered on the comment, ‘you outsmarted me, so we began a courting based on outsmarting’ – a charmingly awkward reminiscence of those early stages of love, which are complicated in their own way, but also unrepeatably new and wonderful. And I felt particularly haunted by a beautiful line about solitude in “I’m a Hunter, I’m a Fox,” ‘there’s something very, very sad about a girl who wants to put on all her fur, alone forever’ – a wistful acknowledgment of the interior world we easily retreat to and sometimes struggle to return from.
- Laura Jean
- Im a Rabbit, Im a Fox
- from Our Swan Song
Our Swan Song sounds like a collection of stories that have been retold without guile but with a good deal of skill. “I’m a Rabbit, I’m a Fox” stands out as an example of this. The instrumentation is beautiful: an extra guitar picks out a lovely, descending melody in the opening of the song, a thundery drum interjects at all the right moments, an oboe and clarinet part and meet through complementary melodies, a buoyant voice navigates intricate melodies with tranquil ease and a subtle double bass supports it all.
I intended to limit myself to just one song from this album; I’ve been lucky to mention only three.