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WHITE HOUSES review by Jackie Newman
Vanessa Carlton is back with a new album, Harmonium. It’s been 3 years since her multi-platinum debut Be Not Nobody which introduced the top ten single “Ordinary Day” and number one single “A Thousand Miles.” Vanessa’s album is named “Harmonium,” because, to her it means, "bringing difficult, chaotic things that have trouble fitting in one’s life together to achieve harmony." The album’s strong piano and drums presented create a mellow nostalgic mood enhance Carlton’s unique voice style.
Vanessa wrote her first album at age seventeen, and wrote Harmonium at age twenty-three after six years of change from an aspiring teen singer to a young Hollywood adult. “I was not afraid to make an album based on what feels fresh and reflective to me. I think I realize only now that I really did take a risk," Vanessa says.
Composed of thick emotions and past memories, the songs seem to reflect sorrow and loss of loved moments. The music is melancholy as the lyrics contemplate mistakes in past relationships and the change of joyful pasts. The song, “White Houses” contains amazing vocal and piano performances, and the harmony is strung well to accompany the lyric’s emotions. Though depressing and even disheartening, the music can be used as an outlet for every girl’s sadness.
Broken hearts and hurt friendships make up these well-written lyrics. The songs contain lines that can be broken down to a poetic form where one line can create a door to a whole story. “White Houses” contains the line “pretty-eyed boys girls die to trust,” which is an example of Carlton’s wide range of poetic and lyrical capabilities. The album’s overall message is about change and the harsh pain that encompasses it.
So grab a box of tissues and a handful of old pictures to reminisce over the past with Vanessa Carlton’s new album Harmonium.
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WHO IS VANESSA CARLTON? by Kasey Simcoe
Vanessa Carlton is not your average pop-tart, oh no! This classically trained pianist from Pennsylvania is one of the finest and freshest new faces to hit the music scene in recent years! Her new album, "Harmonium", due out November 9th, is a testament of life, love and Vanessa's incredible individual style. When the glorious sound of "Harmonium" hits your ears, you immediately are reminded of other talented temptresses, like Tori Amos and Fiona Apple.
Some of her favorite musical artists are amongst the greatest composers, such as Chopin and Mozart, but she enjoys modern music, also. Fleetwood Mac, Queens of the Stone Age, Pink Floyd and Franz Ferdinand are amongst her favorite newer artists. She told GL, "Harmonium was not calculated [..as a departure from average pop music]. It's still very pop, but with a laser-beam asthetic goal. It has more focus, nothing more, nothing less."
She just bought a loft in New York city, and enjoys going to museums (MOMA is one of her favorites) and movies, which, she said "I usually walk out of." Vanessa likes sushi, and frequents Blue Ribbon Sushi in NYC, but her favorite dish is her mom's chicken and spaghetti, which, she says, is different from any spaghetti she's ever had, but it's still so good. Vanessa's loves reading and books, her favorite being The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and also likes the works of Oscar Wilde and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
