I'm a little behind the times musically speaking. I didn't listen to the Beatles until I was a Freshman in college, didn't hear Belle and Sebastian until two years ago, Neutral Milk Hotel, last October. And there's a few very good reasons for my lag. I won't burden you now with the reasons, just know part of one of them has to do with Christian parents, a steel curtain and the impending apocolypse.
So I don't feel like it's a problem to be writing about an album from last year right here in the middle of April. Especially when songs from this album are haunting me more every day that passes.
I'm speaking of the Ramona Cordova album; The Boy Who Floated Freely. The best part is: I've never even listened to the entire album.
I was introduced to Ramona Cordova through a campfire sing along in which every person singing busted a neck veign trying to hit the high notes of a serpentine beautiful melody. The song was Heavy on My Head and every version I've ever heard, from the first to the last is as good as the first time. I love this song.
It's achingly wonderful. It's so proximus to where you sit. No matter how loud or quiet you listen, how energized or mellow you are this song pulls you up next to the troubador and his guitar. It's starlight. I'm not exaggerating.
The album only gets more and more intruiging. Heavy on My Head is on the list of the best songs I've heard but other Ramona Cordova songs fit right in. Maybe thats because the album is concept album. Its a story about a boy marooned on an island away from home. Each song tells a piece of the story at large but each song is solid on its own. The Giver's Reply seems to get stuck in my mud like an ear worm no matter how long ago I listened.
It's Ramona's falsetto. It's one of the best falsettos to hit music since Al Green. And his vibratto is comparable to Devendra Banhart. His melodies... I don't think there's a comparable person in my small encylopedia. I leave that open for comment.
Give his music a listen on his myspace
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