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::
SONGS IN A NORTHERN KEY ::
For
additional reviews of 'Songs In A Northern Key' or if YOU
would like to review this record, please visit the E Squared Records
Review page here.
"In
1997 We called Anders Parker "an intuitive, emgerging classicist
destined to carve out his own chapter." And so he does with
Songs In A Northern Key, dancing drunkenly in the crevices between
The Who Sell Out and the White Album while the ghosts of Nick Drake
and Townes Van Zandt nod approvingly. A dense, arresting masterpiece
equally steeped in alt-country, post modern phychedelia and shot-in-the-heart
classic folk."
20 BEST ALBUMS OF 2001
Magnet Magazine
January 2002
"It's
the most determined and solid thing Varnaline has ever done, at
once a return to and quantum leap from the group's four-track origins....the
record Varnaline should have made years ago, an alternately grand
and closely contained mid-fi alt-country-rock record; it's at once
cinematic in its imagery and intimate in its feel. It has both a
stinging simplicity and a maddening opaqueness..."
No Depression
July - August 2001
"Sharpen
your corners, listeners. There's a whole lot worth looking at here.
Songs in a Northern Key is full of textures...the album manages
to be both backwoods and beautiful."
Swizzlestick.com
July 2001
"Just
because an album captivates you doesn't mean it's easy to write
about. It's sometimes hard to get a handle on what exactly makes
the record so special....Songs in a Northern Key is hard to digest
immediately....then you recognize "Indian Summer Takedown"
for the subtle classic that it is....You also note that surrounding
those sleighbells on "I Don't Want" is one of the loveliest
melodies you've heard in a while....It's a little like finding yourself
under a sprawling, starless sky and bonding with the few lightning
bugs you can catch in a bottle."
The Record Exchange Music Monitor
August 2001
"One
of our favorite artists of the past decade. While the past few years
have seen an amazing number of Varnaline albums hit the horizon...this
fantastic band remains a puzzling obscurity that most folks are
unaware of. Songs In A Northern Key is probably the best Varnaline
album yet. The songwriting has never been stronger...and the vocals
absolutely kick our brains out of our skulls. Singer/songwriter
Anders Parker is as good or better than any of the big name legends
out there. His tunes are laced with wonderful sincerity and the
man possesses a true passion for writing unforgettable melodies.
After hearing this album, we can only speculate as to why more folks
have not picked up on this band...yet." (...cont.)
Baby Sue
August 2001
"The
album itself is a hodgepodge of mid-fi rock, backwoods country and
contemporary American folk. It’s cohesive and filled with literary
spark and instrumental virtuosity — an effort that rewards
with each successive listen. There is everything from skewed pop
(“Song”) to neo-psychedelic guitar rock (“Green Eyed
Stars”) to straightforward Americana (“Indian Summer Takedown”).
Fans of the isolationist rock of Grandaddy and Sparklehorse or even
the quasi-country of Son Volt and early Pernice Brothers will likely
dig. Highly recommended." (more...)
Bret Booth
Style
Weekly
Tuesday August 14, 2001
"Country
maverick Steve Earle has lost a lot of riders during his roller-coaster
career, but you have to say this much at least: the guy knows talent.
Case in point is his signing of Varnaline to his E-Squared label.
The band, which centers around singer-songwriter Anders Parker,
has turned in a minor masterpiece on "Songs In A Northern Key,"
with a bit of production assistance from Earle and a batch of great
songs that shine with a simple, rustic beauty. Parker and Co. can
rock out convincingly, and do, on distortion-heavy tracks like "Song"
and the poppy "Anything from Now," but the haunted lyrics
and haunting tunes of "Blackbird Fields" and "I Don't
Want" are what this over- discussed alt-country thing was supposed
to be about in the first place. "
Dan LeRoy
Daily
Mail
Thursday
August 16, 2001
"Right
off, let me say that this isn't country and while I'm sure critics
nationwide will be pouring over their thesauruses seeking the perfect
word to describe the kind of music this album contains, I can say
for certain that it must spring from a truly original vision. Varnaline,
the band, the project, the whatever, comes mostly from the talents
of Anders Parker with help from a few buddies. To say his music
is unique is to be totally facetious. I would call it a mix of Johnny
Cash and Sonic Youth if I had to give a description. The album features
many poppy elements but also enough squalling dissonance and white
noise to create a sound collage of homespun folk music and post-modern
rock unlike any ever attempted. That both Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy
took part in the production gets me wondering where the future of
country music will head and it is probably no small coincidence
that the guy who mastered this CD has the name Hank Williams. Weird
or what? You may have to listen to this a few times to get into
it but it is well worth the effort and possibly the most barrier-stretching
Americana record ever."
Scott Homewood
Freight
Train Boogie
August 29, 2001
::
SWEET LIFE ::
"Conseille¢
`a tous ceux qui ament les albums doux, me¢ lodies, parfaits
pour une peine d¢ amour ou quand vous etes en amour!"
(9/10)
Desc. : Alternatif acoustique
Le Hit : While You Were Sleeping
JB
emoRAGEI Magazine #5, Hiver 1998-99
::
A SHOT AND A BEER ::
"Varnaline,
where have you been all my deaths?…lost in forlorn revolution…devastatingly
flawless…given up everything but the ghost."
Jonathan Selzer
Melody Maker, January 24, 1998
::
VARNALINE ::
"Fucking
hell, does this rock"
Fred Mills
Magnet (no. 28)
April/May 1997
::
MAN OF SIN ::
"…wayward
talents somehow left alone to pursue an eccentric, uncommercial
vision…so incoherent as to risk shaking off the listener at the
first hurdle…"
Stewart Lee
London Sunday Times, September 8, 1996
"Consider
Varnaline's Man of Sin his [Anders] stunning watermark. It is a
ten-song grieving process for humanity, and it comes straight from
the streets like a blown sheet of garbage. And yes, this all comes
across musically. As few others, Varnaline can convert simple, two-string
discharges into poetic truths. But with six strings, some extra
tracks and a few effects pedals, Varnaline leave us for another
world of shred guitars, concertinas dragged across knives and microphones
smashed under guitar tires until their voices sob."
Alternative Press
"To
put it simply, Varnaline grave-robs folk music and casts it into
the not-too-distant future...Varnaline is the twisted descendent
of barefoot troubadours and front-porch bluesmen. As the ghosts
of Phil Ochs and Robert Johnson hang ominously in the air, the music
teeters on the brink between solid construction and nerve-racking
entropy; guitars clamor, twinge out of tune, then snap back with
resilient melody that lodges itself into memory."
SF Weekly
"Fuzz-toned
post-folk from an occasional member of Long Island's Space Needle...Skiffle
beats and stately acoustic strumming provide the underpinning for
Parker's sturdy, meloncholy voice...At times the record is downright
chilling.. Well worth a listen for fans of the DIY aesthetic."
Option
"Take
one Space Needle member, Anders Parker; take one four-track studio
in Oregon and 10 hushed, lovingly unsentimental songs flickered
and fuzzed with unsweetened guitar. You might end up with this dustily
majestic kinda-solo album, Man of Sin"
Melody Maker
"A
Space Needle side project spotlighting Anders Parker that rolls
along like a dustball and actually hums like coherent diary entries
(from drug-induced relationship funk that is)."
Spin
"Man
of Sin's big heart and fuzzy production give it an intriguing 'space-folk'
feel...So a band with the wandering soul of Alex Chilton and the
debauched heart of Robert Johnson... Soon to be everyone's favourite
space folksters."
New Musical Express
"Like
Eddie Vedder, Varnaline songwriter Anders Parker seems to idolize
Neil Young for his twangy introspection; unlike Pearl Jam, he doesn't
weigh down his melanchology with exhibitionistic melodrama. Whether
they're flirting with a socialist agenda or confronting an existential
crisis, Varnaline approach their subject matter with a quiet dignity
that eludes most fellow twentysomethings."
Entertainment Weekly
"Man
of Sin is a lovely work in exile, imaginative, noisy, standoffish,
hopeful, tender, bored. And surprising, too."
Time Out New York
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