Eleni Mandell is fantastic

[davy]

I guess I read something quickly at Popmatters last week, or maybe Amazon recommended this album to me or something, but whatever happened, it was enough to inspire me to look the record up on spotify and bookmark it for later listening. Weeks went by. Last night, getting down to the dirty business of unpacking the heaviest boxes from our move, I came across it and decided to give it a shot. Good lord, what a surprise -- I described it in a facebook post as "Leo Addeo meets Emmylou Harris in the 22nd Century" but it's more than that, too. It's not about the strangeness of the mix, but the timelessness of it.



I listened to the whole thing and then immediately listened to it again. I haven't fallen for a new album so hard or so quickly in years, certainly not in 2012. After the 2nd listen, I moved on to the previous album, Artificial Fire, and was delighted to hear it lead off with a track that was at once totally different from and just as good as the songs on the album I'd just fallen in love with. The rest of that album was fucking great, too!

And on the drive to work this morning, I listened to the album before that one -- Miracle of Five, featuring Nels Cline on guitar, X's drummer, and horns by the dude from Los Lobos. Absolutely incredible!

By now, I'm firmly in the "obsessive trance" phase, reading all the reviews and interviews I can get my hands on. Fascinating artist!

Right now I'm listening to her most overtly country record, Country for True Lovers, and dudes, I don't even have to tell you.

 

[howardfinkel]

loveee her. Miracle of Five was the one that had me sold.