Lauren Hoffman
Megiddo
Pitch a Tent / Virgin Records
Release Date: 1997
Thank
you, Lauren Hoffman, for clearing something up for me. For the last few years, I've listened and listened, trying to understand the hype surrounding the bumper crop of radio-ready alterna-divas. The Poeful wails, the Osbournish growls, the Trynian entendres . . . I just couldn't figure out what they were trying to pull off, or why labels continued to pour millions of dollars down this funnel of sound-alike one-hit wonders. But now I understand what they were searching for. They all wanted to make Lauren Hoffman's Megiddo.
Hoffman was only 19 when she made this record, and already she's wading knee-deep in the inevitable Fiona Apple comparisons. It's true that both possess remarkably mature songwriting skills and richly textured voices. But where Apple flavors her music with the smoky jazz of the urban sprawl, Hoffman draws on the rootsy noises of the American South. These earthy touches are particularly effective on sultry numbers like "Build a Home" and "Cold and Gray," both of which would sound contrived and self-indulgent if it weren't for the down-home feel. Hoffman's roots shine especially bright on "The Cannibal Ed," a rollicking back-porch rumbler.
The production is innovative, yet respectful of the organic nature of the songs. Hoffman turned to one of her hometown Richmond, VA's local music elder statesmen -- David Lowery of Cracker and Camper van Beethoven fame -- to man the boards. It sounds polished for sure, but hardly the lifeless, pre-digested fluff that high-end New York and LA studios spew forth.
Hell, it was almost worth listening to all that crap to get to this.
-- Jon Carson
carson@outersound.com
