Original, creative pop from a veteran indie singer-songwriter.

14 MP3 Songs
FOLK: like Joni, POP: 60's Pop

Details:
Producing Eye and Storm was kind of like going to a garage sale at Leonard Cohenâs or Bruce Springsteenâs house. Nearly every box of tapes Robin gave me had musical gems hiding inside. Some were songs that Robin had completely forgotten about. Others were so personal (Robin thinks of them as âdiariesâ) they were never really intended for people to hear. All of them aged well. Even Robin, who never boasts about her talent (and never drops names like I do), could see the quality as the new mixes and new tracks took shape. âI like her, the way she sings,â sheâd say about herself, back then, hundreds of songs ago.

Thatâs one reason why the album took almost two years to create. The shape of it kept changing. New songs would appear and open up new possibilities. Shall we add drums? No drums. Yes, some drums. Robinâs vocal chants? No, lets put them on a separate record. Then, about one year into it, the Gretsch arrived. My life-long wish for a White Falcon came true as the heavens parted and the Angels of rock and roll descended with a white, shiny present (complete with orange-sparkle inlay). Now, we had some pickinâ and grinninâ to work with. âBody Run Downâ became something you sing along to after youâve put the top down (as Mike puts it). âLooking for Daniel (Two)â sounds like the Velvet Underground backing Laura Nyro. And the feedbackâgorgeous, warm, hollow-body tube-shaking feedback. It revs the engines in âMobileâ and screams in frustration at the end of âSo Good.â

Robin says âMondayâ is her favorite because of the way her voice sits within the acoustic guitars. This song magically mixed itself, itâs true. But it also evolved when Steve contributed his vintage Guild acoustic. I added a third guitar track and remixed the whole thing around the guitars and Robinâs singing. Now you can hear the floor creaking under the ghost of Mama Cass while Robinâs heart beats in anticipation of Monday. Yes, it was all she hoped it could be. (I had to ask.)

As we neared the end, Shawnâs album design and, especially, his rainy, road-side photographs put a frame around the whole project and let me see it more clearly. That was a surprise, because Shawn is fascinated by perceptual ambiguity and the uncertainty that comes with it (think Rothko photographing a sunset)âkind of like the things Robin sings about: lust joined to trepidation. Attraction to the very qualities someone is out to destroy in themselves. Letting go of things when you simply canât. His landscapes are obscure and metaphysical. They make you ask, âWhatâs really there?â or âWhat did I just drive past?â Robin doesnât scratch her chinâshe pulls over and gets out of the car. Sometimes itâs the turbulence of pure ecstasy (âWhen Youâre Talkingâ) or mind-bending frustration (âSo Goodâ); sometimes she finds the calm and watches the storm all around (â10th Avenueâ) and puts her trust in faith that, in the end, eye and storm are really one (âMaysongâ).

Now that the recordâs done, itâs Joeâs video for âL.O.V.E. Love (This Part Is Over)â thatâs making me see the whole thing with fresh eyes. We brainstormed about the lyric â...scratchy back, I heard it lately on a 45â and then, one early one morning in March, trucked our groovy 1960s record player and Eames lounge chair out to the Chicago lakefront. With the sculptural furniture set against the sunrise, it was beautiful (and really, friggin coldâas you can see in Robinâs rosy cheeks.) But when I saw Joeâs rough cut, several months and many mixes later, I knew the Angels of rock and roll had again been at it again. We had no rehearsal at all and (if I remember) nothing but a cup of coffee about 20 minutes before the shoot. But it all came together: The pink and purple sunrise, the seagulls that sang and soared around Robin at the perfect moments, the dawn light glinting off the gold knobs of the White Falcon. And, at the center of it all, Robin, who moves and sings and plays the song so gracefully and easily.

That 45 must have The Byrds. Maybe âEight Miles High.â Everything takes flight, proving just how big and beautiful these songs really are. Donât take it from me and donât take it from reviewers (like the one who compared Robinâs earlier Luxotone EP to Liz Phair and Lucinda Williams). Take it from Robin herself in this video. Sheâs not performing the song to sell it or prove anything. In a way, the song is not even hers. With kids in college, the new millennium, sheâs way down the road from the woman who wrote it. But the song has only grown bigger. It grabbed her that cold morning just like it grabs everyone else and makes them feel the emotional textures glowing inside it. And it will keep on growing long after these past two years have come to seem like a blink. Which is why, I figure, the Angels of rock and roll were paying attention in the first place.

People who are interested in Liz Phair Kate Bush Lucinda Williams should consider this download.