REVIEW: Splendid, Have You Got a Name For It (Mammoth)
- Chris Hill
Frente fans, rejoice! Angie Hart's reappearance on the musical map is worth the wait. To those who weren't hooked by Marvin: The Album's retooling of New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle, you're in for a discovery. Splendid's CD is just that -- a breezy, wonderful, cavorting, summer romp of a record. From the opening drum machine beats of "I'm No Better" to the closing moments of the de rigueur hidden track, Have You Got a Name for It soars and swoops around, playful, mischievous and thoroughly delightful.
This praise results from the coupling of two people: Ms. Hart, ex-Frente singer, and Jesse Tobias, ex-guitarist for Alanis Morissette. Hart and Tobias turned their personal relationship into a professional partnership, forming Splendid. The product is an airy combination, with Hart's voice, all breathy Australian Ariel with a hangover and a history, and Tobias' guitarwork (both acoustic and electric) uniting in unapologetic pop pleasure.
They've managed to capture the delight of their love, nailing the moments of painful and passionate discovery with spot-on lyrics and bubbling, colorful music. There's the morning light illuminating your lover's face: "While I eat and you sleep in/I make a wish and breathe in/By the time I count to ten, you're awake/And you look so, so fresh from the pillow/And the blood hasn't reached your cheeks yet/Hello, baby." There's the feeling of love where every nerve screams to shout your happiness from the rooftops: "How I try to be quiet/I'm bursting with my love for you/If I tell you, will it change the day?" (both from the rollicking "Hello Dear")
There's the testing that encourages growth (the rumple-tum-tum, jaunty beat-filled "Work Cut Out for You"): "You push me, I can't ignore it/Then I find I'm better for it." There's the doubt and insecurity (the Jane Siberry-ish "Living"): "I feel a little strange with myself/I wasn't watching as I became/I'm attractive, I suppose." Along with the highs come the lows, too: "I'm jumbled up and mixed around/Feels like a crowd in a small town/When only poison comes out/Can't drink it away/Can't argue it off/But I can cry" (the gentle, softly-voiced "Cry"). But those moments are the bitter that makes the sweet more tasty.
Parthenon Huxley pens a cut, "Come Clean," the only one not written all or in part by the couple, but the tune fits perfectly with the love theme. A loopy confessional, the song describes the urge for honesty when taking a relationship to another level: "I'm going to tell him everything/I'm gonna say I slept around/And when I finally tell him everything/There might be nothing left between us/...The truth and nothing but the truth/I'm gonna come clean." (Huxley merits a mention of his own -- he's a stellar talent, deserving of greater recognition: see http://www.elopart2.demon.co.uk/huxbio.html )
Hart and Tobias make a winning couple. After the ink on their pair of tattoos fades (she, "Jesse," he, "Angie," and the subject of the hidden track), this record will remain an enduring snapshot of how they feel now. As she sings on the final listed track, "You and Me," "You make me see/why I should love me/I look at you/In love with me/We made this about/You and me." For two people sucking the marrow from life's moments and sharing their experiences, what more to ask for?
