Battle and Victory

Today's Music of the Day is Nancy Elizabeth's Battle and Victory. This album came to me by way of eMusic, after having heard the accordion-driven "Coriander" on Pandora in the recent past.

Pandora initially suggested "Coriander" based on my love of all things Beirut. This makes sense; the track is fairly earthy, features a singer's voice that brings gypsies to mind, and ends with a flourish of brass. The album that features "Coriander", though, is perhaps not what I was led to expect.

Battle and Victory represents a welcome departure from my semi-consistent indie-rock diet, though the connection to Beirut is reasonable. This album, though, only uses sporadic brass, relying on strings, harp, accordion, and Elizabeth's gray, lilting voice to drive its songs. The sound is very old-fashioned, folky almost to the point of evoking a nineteenth-century carnival or something similar. The songs are deliberate and melancholy, without much hope for a brighter day.

This sort of brooding restraint isn't always easy to listen to, but the songs are difficult not to respect. Each track is a small, grey cloud; alone, one might cover the sun momentarily, but combined, they can change the feeling of a particular day.

In short: if you like gloomy strings with a Mediterranean hint, Battle and Victory is a good place to start.

In Other News:
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