When I first played Patty Griffin's Children Running Through straight through, I have to admit I was under-whelmed by it. The first track, "You'll Remember," begins with a soft upright bass line that is so quiet I didn't hear it until I listened with headphones on. The only other instrumentation beyond Griffin's voice is a light snare drum. It's a seductive song, but not at all what I was expecting.
Admittedly, my prior exposure to Griffin has been limited to a handful of tracks on mix tapes from friends. Most of those songs are pop-folk with a blues rock edge, which makes the jazzy introduction to her new album all that more surprising. I continued to listen to the album in the way I listen to most new CDs — in my office at work as background music, and my opinion did not change even after the third listen. So, I put it away.
A couple of months later, I pulled it out again, but this time on my iPod with headphones. Suddenly, all the subtly and layers I missed the first few times were brought into the fore-front, making me catch my breath in surprise at the beauty of the songs.
This is not an album to play in the background. This is an album that demands your full attention to be appropriately appreciated. I knew that she was a great songwriter, but I did not fully comprehend that until I paid closer attention to the songs on Children Running Through. Each song on the album tells a story both in lyric and instrumentation. By the end of the album, the listener is left with the sense of having looked through the scrap books of twelve very different people.
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Nice review Anna. I've always an Emmylou fan, and you seem to be saying that Patti sounds like a younger version -- sounds like this is worth a listen.
-Glen