PRICE:
$9.00
LOW STOCK LEVEL
1-2 Weeks
ARTIST
TITLE
Yakiimo
FORMAT
CD

LABEL
CATALOG #
HJR 044CD HJR 044CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
11/10/2009

Yakiimo is Simone White's second and most accomplished album released by Honest Jon's. Part memoir and part American chronicle, this record is a sublime mixture of simple, Americana-steeped arrangements and White's own genre-defying combination of rawness and the gorgeous, intimate fragility of her voice. Mark Nevers produced this record with the same organic perfection he brought to her previous album, I Am The Man. But here, Simone White's songwriting has matured, and this collection of acoustic gems is even more exquisitely evocative. With both intelligence and wit, "A Girl You Never Met" explores the mind of a woman tired of life and at the brink of death. The aching string arrangement and breathy instrumentation fuse perfectly, to stunning effect. One of the album's signature pieces, "Victoria Anne," mixes gritty childhood memories with a transcendent humanity and affectionate love. Most of the songs are White's own compositions, but she includes a few by her friends, songwriting duo Frank Bango and Ricy Vesecky. "Candy Bar Killer" is a precious and deranged pop masterpiece, which Simone White's voice and heart-breaking guitar capture effortlessly. "Yakiimo" invokes the power of memory and the intoxication of myth -- an American dream of a different kind. These crystallized vignettes hang together so vividly and so eccentrically, you might think you've stumbled across a box of carefully-preserved curios in your grandmother's attic or an American photo album of snapshots from a dreamier time. And it's beautifully packaged too -- a curio in its own right, housed in a gatefold sleeve with a fully-illustrated 24-page booklet of lyrics.