Reflecting on whole lifetime, as well as acareer spanning more than three decades, a vivid, poetic, uplifting and profound autobiographical release by the American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rockers the New Pornographers, this beautiful LP’s title is inspired by the slate-coloured clouds and conifer forests on the Pacific Northwest skyline. While some previous autobiographical songs have been dark, the mood here by the 55-year-old is more one of gratitude and awe, with music to match, in collaboration with the 20-piece PlainsSong Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Sara Parkinson and arranged by Tom Hagerman, and recorded live with the full band. It follows her recent memoir The Harder I Fight the More I Love You, and the result feels both intimate and also full and sumptous in production, with piano, orchestra and drums, lapsteel guitar and other instruments still allowing her shining voice, clear diction and lyrics to shine out clearly. Rich folds of memory, passing time, waves, from observing the miracle of a spider’s web, various encounters, love, grief and more all interweave in a complex tapestry of ambiguous lyrics, and changes of style in a passionate, energetic dream logic. “Hello, stranger / You remind me of someone / A jangling lust pouncing on a sliver of a dusty pool of light / Your fire’s hue is a maraschino cherry” she greets the opener Destination. Tomboy Gold brings vivid spoken memories (“My daddy used to let me hold the timing gun / While he’d adjust the idle/ He always got a thrill/ That his little girl could close her eyes/ And tell by ear when it was six degrees from top dead center / Remember.” Wreck is a sumptuously accompanied number in which she passionately declares: “I’m a meteor shattering around you/And I’m sorry/I’ve become a solar system/Since I found you.” The gentler Winchester Mansion of Sound is a tender ode to lost musician friends, including Dexter Romweber of her favourite band Flat Duo Jets (“I still think of you / And your wild recurve guitar/ Only you can play so far out of tune / And still kick me in the heart” which moves into a bluesy groove with harpsichord-style keyboards. The grand title track is another highlight: “I live in the wrong time / A custodian at the agency / That keeps the planets aligned,” as well as the slow build into full swirl orchestra and maternal waves of literal and real emotion on The Ice Age, the warmly acoustic Rusty Mountain, all the way to the dramatic closer Match-Lit. An artist at the peak of her powers with an album that demands several listens to to immerse into this rewarding universe of mixing memory and desire. Out on ANTI- Records.
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