Ainara LeGardon – Forgive Me If I Don’t Come Home To Sleep Tonight
Winslow Lab 2009
[tags: folk, folk rock, somber, 2009]
Listen while reading:
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Are you ready for a little trip to Europe? (Ok, I’m already there and all the lovely snow just melted right before Christmas and this really sucks…) But that’s not the point of the article today and the artist I’m writing about doesn’t come from Germany at all but from Madrid/Spain – it’s Ainara LeGardon with her third full length Forgive Me If I Don’t Come Home To Sleep Tonight which was released by her own indie and DIY label Winslow Lab on the 13th of November 2009.
The album with the much too long title is a really nice blend of folk (Your Own Dirt) and folk rock (The Death Most Desired), with a tiny hint of avant-garde music (The Third); it’s very chill but somber all the time with some improvised parts (that is I think they are, e.g. in The Third) and some blusey moments (The Moment of The Earthquake or Knowing). Ainara’s voice is very present but you feel, that she did not intend to focus to much on it because there are some important instrumental parts that give some flavor and atmosphere to the tracks and also to the whole album. That’s the reason I wouldn’t call the record song orientated but album orientated. I recommend listening to it with dimmed lights and enough time to hear it from the beginning to the end in one session.
Although there are lots of different genres I think one has the right to call the album a folk album even though you can clearly hear that Ainara LeGardon has played in Onion, a Spanish rock band, for nearly 10 years. That also seems to be the reason, that she plays her folksy songs mostly on electric guitar. This reminds me of Skitter On Take-Off by Vic Chesnutt (and I love this album), because he also played his tracks on the e-guitar and it sounded just great and all the way like a fine folk record.
Weightless, the opening track, and Knowing are two really outstanding songs, the first with its deep and dark atmosphere and superb melodies and the latter with the mixture of blues guitar playing and folk like vocals in a higher tone than on the rest of the album.
This record clearly deserves some more attention if you’d ask me, because it is outstanding and much better than the average “I combine folk and whatever other genre” music.
To buy your copy, head over to the label’s page and make use of the different special offers or buy your mp3s or hard copy directly via cdbaby.com. Click here for Ainara LeGardon’s MySpace site.
It took me forever to find a website that actually talked about Onion of Ainara in that matter. Ever since the first time i listened to them i’ve been following thier career and it’s been worth it they are a very substantial band.