gstring has been much neglected for the past couple of years but in that time I've discovered some extraordinary music. The strange thing is that much of it has come from one woman, Patty Griffin, such that she became one of my alltime favourite musicians only weeks after I finally made the plunge into her catalogue. As
this review explains best, it's almost impossible to explain her talent in words. When a Patty song gets under your skin, it's frightening how overpowering it can feel.
This week has been a strange, unsettling week, only partly because I've started a new job. At the end of it, I find myself in a strange emotional space, equal parts anger and sadness, at myself and at others. The most frustrating part about it is that there are no clear answers on what I should do next because I'm having trouble even explaining myself to myself.
It may sound weird for me to be retreating into Patty's world but if you know Patty's work - not just know the music but understand the magic of it - it seems like the most natural thing to do. It was only a few weeks ago that I was turning to her masterpiece Impossible Dream when I was finding a decision hard to make. It didn't tell me which way the decision should go but I can think of no better soundtrack for the contemplation. Even though I know that album well, I found it lifting me and comforting me just as it had done when I had first begun to immerse myself in it almost two years previously. "Mother Of God" in particular is one of the biggest but most intimate songs I've ever heard.
Now here I am with the new Patty Griffin album, Children Running Through. As with the arrival of a new album from any of my favourite singers, it's a comfort merely to hear her voice weaving it's way through unfamiliar songs. But when it's Patty, you know it's going to be more than that. There's going to be a melody to get caught in, words to relish and there's that voice, that wonderfully wonderful voice. And it won't all happen at once. Some of it will slip past unnoticed, other parts will cut right through on the first listen. And you know that on the second listen something else will grab you, and then next time around it'll be something else, and before long you'll find yourself itching to plunge in again to find what other treasures she's buried in there.
For me this time, it's the first song "You'll Remember" that does it all, first time through. It's only short but it's Patty at her best and it's not far from there to the tears. Of sadness. Of joy. Of gratitude. Don't worry, I'll come up for air soon, but for now I've found somewhere to get lost...
