I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: GENEVIEVE-Tiny Desk Concert #446 (June 1, 2015).

I enjoy that the opening of this Tiny Desk Concert shows Genevieve “creating” her backup singers.  So that when she gets to the chorus and taps that loop pedal her harmonies really shine.

Genevieve is a poppy singer with a sometimes raspy but often really clean singing style.  She has a great voice and vibrant personality (and hair color).  Even though she is from Chicago, I hear some tinges of Bjõrk and maybe even Tori Amos in her voice.

Evidently she normally plays with a full band, but for this concert, she is accompanied only by Chris Faller who “plays all of the instruments.”

The first song “Colors” is played only with keyboards (and feels like it could use a little but more music–although her voice is powerful enough and that chorus is super catchy as is).  “The Enemy” is accompanied by an acoustic guitar and is a suitably mellower–a kind of sad ballad–which shows how powerful her voice is even in this more quiet setting (she has a lovely range).

The final song “Authority” feels like it might be a big raver (she adds hand claps that seem like the kind that might get the crowd going, but the claps are quiet and subtle here).  The chorus is big with lots of long-held notes and is super catchy.

Genevieve would probably be too pop for me in general, but the Tiny Desk Concerts tend to remove a lot of gloss and leave the heart of the musician.

[READ: May 15, 2015] An Age of License

I enjoyed Knisley’s Relish, so when I saw this in the library I decided to check it out.

Unlike Relish, which was about food, this book is about her travels outside of the country.  But like Relish, this book is another memoir/journal/autobiography.

Since I have been having a major Norway kick (thanks to Karl Ove Knausgaard and some great sites on Instagram) I was pretty excited to see that her travels began in Norway.  Her itinerary is short but very busy.  Fly into Iceland than immediately to Norway (for the Raptus Comics Fest in Bergen).  Then it’s off to Sweden (to visit a guy she knows in Stockholm).  Then to Berlin to join her friends on their honeymoon (which is not as tacky as it sounds). Then it’s off to France to visit her friend in Beaune, and then to hang out with her mom and her friends on Royan.  Finally a day in Paris before flying back home.  I’m exhausted just writing it all.

Knisley also has the headache of dealing with a breakup (to the nice guy who has been in her previous books) although he is kind enough  to babysit her cat while she is gone.

Every few pages has colored (watercolor I assume) drawings which add a nice touch to the otherwise black and white story.

Starting Sept 8th, she arrives in Norway.  We see the flight and other people on the flight.  We see a nice meal that she eats (Pinnekjott–someday I hope to get to the Scandinavian countries and eat food that I cannot pronounce).  Norway is fun–she goes to the Fest (where she gets to draw with Ethan Nicolle of “Axe Cop” (presumably his five-year old brother stayed home).  She shows students how to draw (her friend is a teacher), although she declines to eat Lutefisk (which she illustrates as Fish + Lye.  Lye??).  She also mentions that she was not only stalked, but that the boys who stalked her then made and published (and had it available at the following year’s Raptus Fest) a comic about stalking her–creepy!

Then she flies to Stockholm.  The boy, Henrik, is a boy she barely knows, but whom she hit it off with very well when they first met in New York.  She has a  lot of indoor fun with him, and details are scarce (thankfully).  Then they go to Berlin.

Her friends are on honeymoon, but she missed the wedding because she was at the Fest, so it’s a nice way for them all to catch up.  She stays an extra day before hopping over to France.  She visits her old friend Jane who works some kind of wine related job–lots of if wine is drunk (and spit out) in these pages. Then she meets up with her mother and her mother’s friends.  She winds up driving the sleeping ladies all over the place.  The only bad time she has is when one of the friends’ roommates proves to be a terrible hostess–throwing a late party and drinking all of Lucy’s gift wines.

Then she’s off to Paris to hook up with Henrik again.  They have a midnight snack at the base of the Eiffel Tower and then on the 27th she flies back home.

Anyone who has ever traveled can appreciate how whenever you go somewhere you immediately want to live there for ever and then you start missing your home and even, gasp, paying bills.

I really enjoy Knisley’s style of drawing–it seems so effortless and almost gentle.  Even when she has some seriously bad moments the drawings (which do reflect the frustration) maintain her style and ease every nicely.  I often want Knisley to chill out on these vacations, which seem very stressful to her, but I am starting to think that she uses the stress to make the stories more dramatic.  And that’s okay with me.