Lissie: Catching a Tiger

"Record Collector" clinks and clangs into being modestly as Lissie's voice creeps into the speakers, bobbing rhythmically with a strange peppiness. For a second I think I've been tricked, that I've bought the wrong CD. Make no mistake, though... this is the same woman who recorded stripped-down cover versions of "Bad Romance" and "Pursuit of Happiness," wails 'til she's blue in the face, and swigs tequila freely onstage. She crops up here and there on the record... notably on that first track, when she reaches the bridge and asks of God, "Won't you, won't you fill me up with it, won't you fill me up with it, why don't you fill me up with it?" Building, building until her voice breaks under its own pressure. It's the same woman, but playing a very different tune.

Most of the songs on the album don't reflect the dangerous image of Lissie, which I had inferred from her the videos I've already posted, but they don't conceal her completely, and the way it's worked into these songs, laced subtly with coy desire and a more positive version of rebelliousness ("Hands on the wheel, fuck that" from "Pursuit" gives way to "When you're with us you don't have to be quiet no more," on "Cuckoo.") So here we get a more lush, more nuanced sound, achieved through very pop-oriented instruments and catchy choruses. Well, let's not say that like it's a bad thing.

Take "When I'm Alone," which hits that perfect spot of evocative lyrical vagueness "You make me feel, you make me feel, you are the one you are the one..." wrapped in this ominously pulsing guitar-led wall of sound. There is pure desire, pure longing in this song, and her voice has that quality where when she cuts loose on the lyrics, you know she means them. More subdued and slightly darker is "In Sleep," which seems to me like a very haunted version of the Roy Orbison/Cyndi Lauper/Definitely not Celine Dion song "I Drove All Night," but in this one, the girl can't bring herself, or is unable to, make the drive. Its chorus swings effortlessly, directly, single-mindedly. It builds to a thrilling minute-long guitar attack that reminds of some of the greats of the classic rock era.

"Loosen the Knot," appropriately, is more the breakneck-speed rock, but as far as the poppier compositions go I'll take "Worried About" as the favourite. It bops on at a jilting kilter, creating an almost-unnatural rhythm between the verses and choruses, swaggers breathlessly, near-panicked and certainly frustrated, busy, like anyone with a lot on the mind. It boasts a great refrain of "For the last four years of my life I've thought about you pretty much every 15 seconds." The whole album is loaded with awesomely odd lyrics, including "Stranger," where she reminds a guy she "Asked nicely, please get out of my face."

"Stranger," yes. Sitting in the middle of the album, it's an oddity, because it deliberately invokes a Phil Spector vibe much more than other songs (not in the homicidal sense, you know what I mean,) in lo-fi, seeming like a She & Him song with attitude. It's a treat for the ears, with the early-60's pastiche production brimming with energy.

On iTunes, the album is classified "Country & Folk," which is deceptive. It definitely has a rustic/badass appeal, but to call it "Country & Folk" is to conjure up the image of something corny and nostalgic. Carrie Underwood or Shania Twain, she ain't. The countryness crops up noticeably only on two tracks, "Little Lovin'," with its steel guitar, but it's still far too explosive to be reduced to merely "country" (can you tell I have a hang-up about that genre? Ask me about it sometime.) Her brand of "country" reaches back to the time when Hank Williams I was figuring out how to incorporate the blues into his music despite not being black.

The other major "country" moment is the anthemic "Cuckoo," an ode to individualism, especially in repressive rural places. It's a bit like a Dodge commercial for my taste... especially given the chorus goes "I fell in love with bein' defiant / In a pickup truck that roared like a lion." But take it for what it is, a breezy, hooky tune on an album full of them, loaded with fire and spirit.

There are also ballads, the reflective parental-love tune "Bully," and hymns spiritual ("Everywhere I Go") and secular, ("Oh Mississippi.") These ones are handled more delicately, kept quite a bit raw and direct rather than smoothed over, which helps them reach their intended expressiveness.

In my reviews, I try not to pass judgment based on aspect unrelated to the album itself, so while I came in with a vision of Lissie that was not really explored on this record, it shows a great deal of depth (or at least, multi-facetedness) that she's able to be the "Bad Romance" cover Lissie and the "When I'm Alone" Lissie, and the "Stranger" Lissie and the "Bully" Lissie. The album stands excellently on its own merits, and those are different merits from those videos. Here, her rough edges are very much sanded down and layered with a bit more complexity. The songs showcase her voice very, very well, showing her power and ability to convey honesty and need as well as playing with the listener. Whatever contributions collaborators brought, whichever direction she was pointed, she never sounds like she's compromising to get a hit. She just wants to come up with some awesome songs.

Buy this album from iTunes now!



BONUS VIDEO! I usually only post one video per album, but I'm such a fan of Lissie's live videos that I thought I'd post this live rendition of the already-great "In Sleep."