The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, February 22, 2017 — 5A
Carlton on work, future
A thousand miles later, the singer-songwriter is all grown up
After 16 years, six major
releases
and
a
nod
from
Billboard, the Grammys and
the AMAs, Vanessa Carlton
refuses to slow down. She’s
only getting better, really. The
singer-songwriter known for
“A Thousand Miles” may have
made a purposeful exit from
the mainstream
stage,
but
Carlton has never
ceased to gain
ground; she has
found her sound
and
navigates
the
stage
and
studio
with
surefootedness.
“There
are
people
who
know
‘A
Thousand
Miles’
cause everyone seems to know
that song, of course … but it’s
16 years old, so if you were to
hear a record of mine now, you
can tell I’m that pianist but it’s
a different sound,” said singer-
songwriter Vanessa Carlton.
In
a
phone
interview,
Carlton mused on the makings
of her latest releases, Earlier
Things Live and Liberman
(Live), while touching on the
arc of her prolific career and
upcoming tour.
“It was probably the easiest
way of doing a record I had
ever
experienced,”
Carlton
said, when asked about the
process behind her first live
record. “It was the last show
on tour in Nashville one night,
and it was a good night and
we captured it. People who
don’t know much about me or
my life or what I’m doing now
who haven’t seen a live show,
(Liberman [Live]) is a good
record to get.”
Nodding to her now-veteran
singer-songwriter
status,
Carlton confessed it took time
for her to build up the self-
assurance to do a live album.
“Over the years I really have
been able to evoke more of a
vocal confidence and sound,
and I’m glad I waited so long,”
Carlton said.
Coming hot off of Liberman
(Live), Carlton also released
an EP, Earlier Things Live. The
short record is a compilation
of older songs from that same
magical Nashville night that
bore Liberman (Live). When
asked to explain her drive to
compile a separate EP, Carlton
expelled the virtues of vinyl
and the power of choice and
authenticity it brings to the
digital streaming age.
“Either you’re streaming
all
the
time
or
you’re
into
buying
actual
vinyl
records
which is higher
sound
quality
it
is
better,”
Carlton
said.
“I think people
understand that medium no
matter how old you are. It is
a superior sound, so I wanted
there to be different products
for my followers and fans.”
But now that Carlton has
done due justice to Liberman
and its beautiful moments, she
is ready to put on a tour that
more encapsulating — one
that reflects her breadth as an
artist.
“I’m going to do some
older songs and some songs
peppered
from
different
records to create a little bit
more of variety in the show
than
the
Liberman
tour,”
Carlton said. “(We will play)
songs that we like, songs that
we want to rearrange, songs
that haven’t been played in a
while.”
Though the upcoming tour
aims to more fully encompass
Carlton’s
decade-and-a-half
long career, her work is not
impervious to the stressors
of the present day. Touching
on the tense socio-political
climate, Carlton spoke of the
essential role that art plays in
bringing people together.
“Right now, I’m so disturbed
by what’s happening to civil
rights in this country and as
a woman reproductive rights
are really under fire and so
I feel very protective of my
daughter and I feel protective
of the earth and of human
beings,” Carlton said. “I think
more than anything ... an
artist during this time, the
most valuable place is making
art and making something
beautiful
or
something
that can connect people, or
something that is telling the
truth about the present day.”
Despite
her
personal
feelings concerning the state
of the nation, Carlton does
not plan to make her show a
political spectacle. Instead,
embarks on her tour with
a hope for partnership and
trust between her and her
audiences.
“There is a trust that you
are going to be taken care of
by the audience and that the
audience is going to be taken
care of by the artists, you
gotta be there for each other,”
Carlton said. “With every
tour there’s usually a handful
of really great feeling shows
that transcend the typical
performance
and
you
go
someplace else.”
It is these moments — these
instances
of
transcendence
—
that
make
the
grind
worthwhile for Carlton, that
have driven her to break from
the mechanized pop mold and
break into her own voice.
“(‘A Thousand Miles’) is 16
years old, so if you were to hear
a record of mine now, you can
tell I’m that pianist but it’s a
different sound,” Carlton said.
“I’m still privileged that I’m
able to have a vibrant career
doing music and making albums
in a way that I want to make
them. I’m not a part of the huge
machine anymore, I left that …
and never looked back.”
DINE ALONE RECORDS
CONNOR GRADY
Daily Arts Writer
In the land of women
In
many
ways
“Julieta”
noticeably
lacks
the
stylistic
ticks of its writer/director Pedro
Almodovar. It’s tame, as far
as
Almodovar
is
concerned, sticking to
a simple plot, down-
to-earth
characters
and not even a hint of
singing.
What it does retain is
Almodovar’s signature
feature — women. And,
not just any women,
real women, some of
the
realest
women
created
by
a
man
possibly ever. It’s easy
— so easy it’s almost boring — to
find what’s wrong with onscreen
portrayals of women. What’s much
more interesting, and cosmically
reassuring, is looking at all the ways
Almodovar gets it right.
Almodovar rose to international
acclaim following his 1988 film
“Mujeres al borde de un ataque
de nervios” The film’s title is
poorly translated into English as
“Women on the Verge of a Nervous
Breakdown.” That film, screened in
my high school Spanish class, was
my first introduction to Almodovar.
In the film, a web of people
become
increasingly
tangled
in each other. In classic, almost
Shakespearian comedy, Pepa loves
Iván whose son Carlos and his
fiancé Marisa want to buy Pepa’s
apartment where she’s trying
to console Candela, etc. etc. It’s
hilarious and impossibly confusing.
In the middle of it all is Pepa, a
hurricane in the best sense of the
word. She’s manic and destructive
and most of all a force.
His latest, “Julieta,” joins a
portfolio of films that demonstrate
Almodovar’s keen observation of
and empathy for the daily suffering
of the modern woman. The
central figure, Julieta, is a woman
defined by loss, first by the death
of her husband and next by the
abandonment of her
daughter.
Almodovar
gets
increasingly
close to her over the
course of the film,
sifting
through
the
nuances of her psyche.
He understands her
deeply enough that he
can visually form her
with very little spoken
dialogue
(the
film
was originally called
“Silence” but the name
was changed to avoid confusion
with Scorses’s film of the same
name).
To Almodovar, it seems, women
are the fabric that hold the universe
together. His film “Talk to Her” is
a perfect example of this. Despite
being comatose, the two women
at the center of this film hold it
together. The other characters
are reliant to some extent on their
presence.
Some criticize what they call
Almodovar’s stylization or even
fetishization of female suffering,
something the director seems to
address in his 1999 Oscar-winning
film “All About My Mother.” This is
a common criticism pointed at gay
men who make art about women.
And yet, empathy and beauty
are
not
mutually
exclusive.
Almodovar’s film do not need to be
come any less beautiful to be real
and deeply true. His picture of the
experience of women, painted in
striking colors and perfectly laid
out shots, is one steeped in a deep
understanding of what it means to
suffer mundanely. It is very easy to
show Day 1 of grief, Almodovar has
mastered the art of Day 1001.
Raised by a strong community
of women, Almodovar is clearly
attuned to the ways women
interact with each other. Themes of
maternity and sisterhood dominate
his family dramas.
Part of what sets Almodovar’s
women
apart
from
other
cinematic representations is his
deep understanding of female
friendship. Contrary to what gal
pal rom-coms might lead you to
believe, the backbone of female
friendship is not two women telling
each other how much they like each
other and swapping relationship
advice in a trendy bar. So much
of female friendship is unspoken.
Its essence is in moments like the
one in which Beatrice helps Antia
lift her depressed mother from
the bath. Or when Julieta returns
to the park where her daughter
and Beatrice used to play, only to
discover Beatrice has done the
same.
Some
American
filmmakers
like Noah Baumbach and Mike
Mills have captured the parts of
womanhood that elude so many
others.
Baumach’s
2015
film
“Mistress America” examines the
overlapping nature of sisterhood
and friendship and Mills’s “20th
Century Women” examines the
role three women play in the
development of a teenage boy. Both
films capture the empathy and
tenderness that Almodovar’s films
exude.
So it’s not impossible. Male
filmmakers can put real women
on the screen. What is takes it
seems is a simultaneous look
inward and outward, a close
examination
of
the
women
around
the
director
and
a
reflection on how they shaped
the director himself. Almodovar
is a standout, but he’s not alone.
MADELEINE
GAUDIN
FILM COLUMN
CONCERT PREVIEW
Vanessa Carlton
Feb. 23rd, 8:00 p.m.
The Ark
$30, $37
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PEDRO ALMODOVAR
Right now, I’m
so disturbed by
what’s happening
to civil rights in
this country
CONCERT REVIEW
Young the Giant steps up
In
all
honesty,
when
my
roommate asked me if I wanted to
see Young the Giant in concert with
her, I wasn’t too stoked. I love going
to alternative concerts, especially
bands that are not as popular as they
once were. But I’ve never listened to
Young the Giant beyond their hits,
and based on those I didn’t think
this was going to be anything to
rave about. Boy, was I wrong.
20 Monroe Live, a new venue
in Grand Rapids, MI, consisted of
a general admission pit and a high
mezzanine. The stage’s backdrop
was a simple black and grey
mountain, the same outline of the
mountain that appears on Young
the Giant’s Home of the Strange
album cover. The small flags
printed on the album cover also
came to life where six of them hung
on either side of the stage.
After much waiting, and with
absolutely no warning, Kanye’s
“Father Stretch My Hands Pt.
1” blasted through the venue as
opener Lewis Del Mar strutted out
on stage to a roaring welcome. I was
lost, because I never even heard of
these guys, but they walked out to
fucking Kanye, so I had faith.
The moment Danny Miller, lead
singer and guitarist of the band,
sang the lyrics, “Can you please
/ Sit the fuck down,” the crowd,
including myself, went crazy. And
with the rest of the set, the audience
seemed to sing along.
The experimental alternative
band chose to perform most of
their album in a screamo style. As
someone who knows nothing about
screamo nor Lewis Del Mar, I was
still highly impressed. Although
I was later told the group is not
screamo at all, I was interested in
listening to their original album.
Cross-pollinating
acoustic
instruments,
like
the
guitar,
woodblocks and sleigh bells, with
an electric sound, like heavy bass,
keyboard and electric guitar, Lewis
Del Mar provided a new sound
for the audience. They were the
definition of “a great opener,” and
immediately took the the spotlight
for the night.
With
that,
I
had
high
expectations for Young the Giant.
The band walked out to fog
machines
and
bright
lights,
reflected from the stage and the
audience. Opening with “Jungle
Youth,” one of the less popular songs
off Home of the Strange, the energy
held at the top, like a rollercoaster
— but it never dropped. In other
words, it was uneventful.
Still, the band picked it up with
crowd favorites “Something To
Believe In” and “Titus Was Born,”
which involved a lot of sweet
harmonies from the band members.
And yes, right in the middle of
their set, they played the song that
made them famous: “Cough Syrup.”
I almost wish they didn’t play it,
hoping the band would move on
from the trite hit. But they did, and
although it might have bugged me, I
still sang along.
They kept going with some
older material, including “Mind
over Matter” and “Apartment,”
and the crowd raved over these
hits, feeding into a comradery for
audience members.
With a mix of high falsetto riffs
from lead singer Sameer in “Mr.
Know-It-All” and a deep, ’80s
groove bass in “Elsewhere,” the
band began to pick up the intensity,
or at least kept it varied.
One of the highlights of the entire
show was when Sameer whipped
out
the
ukulele,
introducing
the nostalgic and mystical “Art
Exhibit.”
With a single spotlight on him,
Sameer said: “This song is about
how memories warp and change.”
It allowed the crowd to relate to
his nostalgia, especially as the set
background turned into a simple
starry night sky.
The
band
returned
with
the second half of their upbeat
set,
including
“Amerika”
and
“Silvertounge,”
which
were
accompanied by intense technicolor
lighting.
And of course, the band couldn’t
leave their concert without their
hit “My Body,” which I will admit,
I was less moody about. There
was a type of refreshing freedom
and adolescence that came with
it, allowing me to wrap my arms
around my roommates as we belted
the lyrics to the song of our early
teens.
There
were
elements
to
Young the Giant’s concert that
were lackluster. But their sound,
their combination of different
instruments and their diverse set
list proved my pre-notioned ideas
wrong. They are unique, and they
are truly embedded within their
own category of music.
ERIKA SHEVCHEK
Daily Community Culture Editor