I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: GRACIE AND RACHEL-Tiny Desk Concert #666 (November 1, 2017).

Who are Gracie and Rachel?

They are Gracie Coates the primary singer and keyboard player and Rachel Ruggles on a violin processed through various pedals.  The two Berkeley California high school friends are now New York loft-mates. Together with percussionist Richard Watts, a huge bass drum, and electronic drum pads, the group mixes classical training with pop hooks, and curiosity with uncertainty.

The complex tunes they beautifully reproduced in this thrilling Tiny Desk performance are from the group’s debut, self-titled album released back in June of this year.

All three of the songs have the same basic style and tone–rather intense–somber piano with soaring strings and Gracie’s interestingly delivered vocals.

“Only A Child” stars with a simple piano riff that has a real sense of uncertainty, almost menace.  I can’t decide what she’s doing with her vocal style but it’s certainly unique.  There’s some backing vocals although I can’t quite tell where they’re coming from (live or prerecorded) and they add a really creepy tone.    And then there’s the lyrics:  “I’m moving my mouth but I don’t say a word/My ears are open but nothing is heard/I’m only a child, only a child.”  But really the way the violin plays that descending mellow is absolutely captivating.

“Go” features the big bass drum which I didn’t even see at first.  This one has ringing piano notes and pizzicato strings.  The violin is primarily fast notes until the middle when she slows things down and it takes on a very different tone.  The middle features just a simple piano note repeated along with the women’s voices.

Before the last song she says, “I really wanted this moment to say something fun but I realized that our music isn’t very funny.”

And she’s right.  The music is sharp and inquisitive.  It’s not fun, but it’s very good.

“Don’t Know” has the pointed lyric: “And when did it become alright for you to take our rights and when did we decide to give away the life that we live today?”  There’s more sinister piano but there’s these interesting trills on the violin (and backing vocals) that float above the music.  It’s really some great and enticing music.

[READ: February 15, 2016] Hereville: How Mirka Caught a Fish

I really enjoyed the other two books in this series, and the tagline “Yet another 11-Year old time-travelling Orthodox Jewish babysitter” let me know I’d be in for more of the same fun.

Mirka is the 11-year-old orthodox girl.  Her mother died when she was young and her father remarried.  She has a brother and two step-sisters.  Her step mother is tough but fair (sometimes).  And they live very distinctly Orthodox life–Non Orthodox Jews are called moderns.  We learn a bit about Orthodox culture–there are lots of Jewish phrases with translations at the bottom, and little cartoon which show that unmarried women keep their hair long, while married women cut it short or shave it and wear a wig called a snood.

Right now the crisis in Mirka’s life is her six-year old step-sister Layele.  Mirka is going to babysit Layele for a couple of days.  Just as the adults leave, Fruma mentions having seen something in the woods–but stops herself before she can reveal anything.  This of course only sets Mirka’s mind in motion and she immediately defies orders and goes into the woods with Layele.

Layele is terrified of everything in the woods.  Except the troll that they meet, because he is nice.  The troll is from the previous books and he hates Mirka because she defeated him, so he says mean things about her which makes Layele laugh.

The troll gives her a magic hairband with which she can see the past.  The first thing we see is a young Fruma talking to a witch.  Fruma asks the witch to make her pretty (she has a massive nose).  And Mirka can’t believe she was so shallow.

Meanwhile, a fish hops out of the water when he sees them, hopes to talk to them and is immediately stepped on.  But it turns out that he can survive this and many other threats.

We also learn that Fruma was raised modern.  We see her in a bathing suit (Layele doesn’t understand what that is) and we see her speaking English (which means the rest of the book is in English).  Mirka tells Layele she’ll learn English when she gets older.

They return form the market with supplies and the fish (long story). A slip of the hairband tells Mirka that Layele is about to do something really dumb.  So she runs after her only to be stopped by the witch who demands the hair band (which Mirka gladly relinquishes).

The fish is a pretty wicked creature and soon has Layele in a bad way (with much of her hair cut off).  Many adventures follow, inducing a visit to the witch, an underwater adventure (complete with air bubbles over their heads) and help from Fruma–who realizes that although Mirka is a terrible babysitter, she was initially responsible for the trouble.

This book was lots of fun.  Although I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the other two.  This one was a bit more convoluted than action-packed. Although the stakes did seem higher.

I really love Deutsch’s visual style–exaggerated and yet strangely right on.  Sometime creepy but never super scary.

Its been a few years since the last one, so I hope he’s working on another.