ARTIST: Anais Mitchell
TITLE: The Brightness
LABEL: Righteous Babe
GENRE: Folk
BITRATE: 169 kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 39min total
RELEASE DATE: 2007-02-13
RIP DATE: 2007-01-17

Track List

01. Your Fonder Heart               3:31
02. Of A Friday Night               4:11
03. Namesake                        3:00
04. Shenandoah                      4:03
05. Changer                         2:51
06. Song Of The Magi                3:00
07. Santa Fe Dream                  3:59
08. Hobo's Lullaby                  3:09
09. Old-Fashioned Hat               3:59
10. Hades & Persephone              3:22
11. Out Of Pawn                     4:29

Release Notes:

From her birthplace on a Vermont sheep farm to Beirut cafés, Cairo
apartments and Austin recording studios, Anaïs (ah-NAY-iss) Mitchell
has been around. Therefore, it’s no surprise that The Brightness,
Mitchell’s Righteous Babe debut, is infused with the restless, worldly
perspective of a real troubadour.

“I’ve got this lingering feeling/It’s like I’ve slipped between the
fingers of the century/I know you know what I mean,” sings the 25-
year-old singer/songwriter on the song “Of A Friday Night” – a storm
cloud of a piano ballad. Anaïs’ “lingering feeling” of being in the
right place at the wrong time could also be interpreted as the plight
of modern-day artists, who are up against an American Idolized
industry that’s all about judging a book by its cover.

With The Brightness, Mitchell gives us a glimpse into the raw talent
and infectious energy of today’s underground folkies, not to mention a
handful of the places she’s been. Over the course of 11 songs,
listeners are transported to Bethlehem and the Virginia countryside;
they bathe in New Mexico moonlight and hear the world whizzing by from
the inside of a hobo’s train car. But for all of its worldliness, this
is a lovingly homemade album. During the recording process, Anaïs
lived above the studio, which was built into an old Vermont gristmill.
She could wake up, shake the sleep out of her eyes and record tracks
in her pajamas.

Recorded with producer and long-time collaborator Michael Chorney and
a handful of Vermont-based artists, The Brightness is anchored by
sparse, unpretentious arrangements, whether it’s the charming
backwoods banjo of “Shenandoah,” Chorney’s warm lap-steel playing, or
Mitchell’s acoustic guitar work, which is almost harp-like in its
soft, economical beauty. On the rare occasions when the production
gets richer, it’s instantly memorable – especially the wave of vocal
harmony that washes over the chorus of “Your Fonder Heart.”

Given the absence of production tricks and the near-lack of percussion
– drummer Chuck Terranova appears on a mere two tracks – Anaïs’ lyrics
give The Brightness its major source of light. Instead of a musician,
she credits “The Alexandria Quartet,” a series of four novels by
British author Lawrence Durrell, as the main influence behind the
record. This is songwriting with a stress on the latter half of the
word, where the hooks are in the syllables as much as they’re in the
melodies.

Mitchell spins stories about forgotten old poets, jilted lovers and
the three wise men, making each one a distinct chapter of one cohesive
work. Her lyrics tackle the personal and political with equal aplomb,
often blurring the lines between the two. In fact, thin lines are a
recurring theme in her music, whether it’s between friends and lovers,
religion and violence, or prosperity and pain. On The Brightness,
Anaïs Mitchell is going somewhere, and you’re invited to come along.
Chances are it’s a trip you won’t soon forget.