Teitur - The Singer

Teitur's debut album Poetry & Aeroplanes has been a staple of mine for many years now, and after completely skipping his second album for fear of ruining the image I had created for him, hearing his third album was somewhat of a shock. Now, it's not that I mean that in a bad way; The Singer (an apt title, I think) certainly is a change of pace from the acoustic softness of Poetry & Aeroplanes, but at the same time shows the capacity of Teitur to grow and evolve in his musical expression.

The elements that initially drew me to Teitur remain, for the most part, consistent in this album. Though, if I were to complain about anything it would be that I feel his change of focus from simple acoustic driven songs to more complex instrumentation has left many of the tunes bereft of his knack for intricate melodies. It doesn't seem like that would make sense, that the addition of more depth to each song takes away from the sense of intricacy; but to me each melody on this new album seems to play second fiddle to his vocals. This is why I say the title is apt, I think The Singer is more of an exploration of his own voice as a singer and songwriter.

For now, the fourth track, "We Still Drink the Same Water" is my absolute favorite from the album. The melody is haunting, his voice is subtle, and the use of repetition is reminiscent of earlier tracks like, "I Still Sleep with the Lights On."

"Catherine the Waitress" is another standout track on the album. Instantly with the instrumentation, horns and doo-wop voices, it creates its aura, (leather jackets, jukeboxes, the works). The lyrics are easy to relate to: a fleeting crush on a waitress in another town, "Catherine the waitress/ if you only knew where my mind is/ "Is there anything you'd like?"/ If I could only tell you." The song itself is as fun and fleeting as those sorts of crushes are, and certainly an escape from the more somber tone of many of the other songs on this album.

In contrast, songs like the final track, "You Should Have Seen Us," use minimal instrumentation (a lone cello seems to be the real driving force for much of the song) as the undercurrent for the lyrics, which are sung very sparsely, almost as though they are being spoken.

This album is certainly a move into a more experimental genre than his earlier work; something now more akin to spoken word poetry. I believe that he says it best in the title track: "I always had the voice/ and now I am a singer."

MP3:
Teitur - The Singer
Teitur - Catherine the Waitress

Links: Visit Teitur's website and/or his myspace for more information, future tour dates, and to purchase his cds.