GENRE: Indie - Folk - Singer Songwriter - Soul
PREAMBLE - They say women are better at multi-tasking than men... I never doubted it for a minute. Theresa Andersson has only served to put this statement to shame.
LOOK - This image 'aint nothing if not pretty; a fitted glove for Miss Andersson's beautifully crafted album. A hand-painted image of what looks to be mountains graces, Hummingbird, Go! Its "cute" whimsy may not be worthy of white museum walls, but sure sells the idea of carefully instrumented love and beauty. Theresa's hummingbird must go, maybe it's destination is depicted in this 4.75 X 4.75 square. Above the heartwarming color pallet of the these mountainsides is the only problem I see with this design, a problem that arises for many designers (including myself): the type doesn't belong, and isn't part of the design; it looks like it was squeezed in last-minute before it was emailed out to the manufacturer.
LISTEN - Swedish signer songwriter, Theresa Andersson came to New Orleans in 1990. After a decade-long stint of playing the Ragin' Cajon scene, she quickly developed and honed her multi instrumental talent into a package that astonishes.
"Birds Fly Away's" beautiful harmonies and layered instrumentation makes you picture a room full of musicians, back-up singers, and technicians. It's hard to believe that Hummingbird, Go! was cut entirely out of Andersson's kitchen (where she practices her amazing live performances). Equipped with peddles galore, drums, an acoustic guitar, a violin, and samples, Theresa makes what she does not look easy at all. View a performance here! Or here.
Title track "Hummingbird, Go!" is a good example of the two minute little snippets of beautiful experiments Andersson sandwiches in between bouncy, stomping, chic-barn-performances you could square dance to ("Japanese Art"), and songs that will have you remains about your old hopeless romantic ways ("The Waltz").
My favorite song on the record "God's Highway", with its refreshing, honest, all-be-it-painful lyrics, is a great contrast to upbeat tracks like "Na Na Na". From the highs to the lows, to the romantic and personal, Theresa Andersson hits almost every single note within our psyche.
SPEAK - Hummingbird, Go!, at first listen is just a better-than-average offering by a very talented singer songwriter. The strength of Theresa Anderson's song-writing isn't disputed. What can be disputed, for me, is whether or not she is the fine line between Musicianship and Performance Art. It's easy to see how this all could be taken as a novelty act, but these songs are too good, too perfect, too intricate, too gosh-darn pretty to be an "act".
ALUBM GRADE - B
COVER GRADE - C
DO WE HAVE A MATCH - YES!
