but can i eat it?

#21 Bavarian Fruit Bread - Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions (rough trade, 2001)



This album was indeed a gift from Captain Ultra almost 5 years ago now. (Big Cougar's memory of SF59 tapes leads me to remember the first time I heard Hope's voice on a now infamous BForbes mix tape that he made me that led me back and forth b/w campus and my country dwelling in Bristol, TN.) We were both Mazzy Star fans and together with Big Cougar and Shawna were going to soon be playing Mazzy's "fade into you" a couple times at shows.

So Ultra quietly passes me this record at the Christmas party at my mom's house. I put it on over the blaring "A Christmas Story" or "24 hours of Eastwood", I really don't remember. What I do remember is being drawn back again and again to the unassuming melodies and wondering where in the world is that voice coming from. Was she a Siren in the midst of those mad moments whilst wrapping paper was being tossed to and fro and 'thank yous' were being yelled? When the clamor died down, would I just hear a tender girl past her prime longing for the shoegaze/psych/folk of her 90's band? Lets just say she put the wind in the sails...

Bavarian Fruit Bread is a seamless album, you know what you're gonna get from the outset. It can seduce you or wrap you in a warm winter blanket, depending on the mood. It stands on Hope's sultry voice and lots of reverb. Colm O Ciosoig (My Bloody Valentine) his her main partner here and brings some of the warmest tones I've ever heard. I love putting this on and knowing there won't be any tempo changes, jarring percussion, or solos. Scratch that last part. There are solos but they are of the glockenspiel and harmonica varieties. I prefer to listen loud so as to hear the tender breathing, mallet washes on the ride, and the creaking of chairs as they record. For subject matter...some simple revelries "its a Clear Day to be out"...playing temptress/older sis "gonna teach her to sin cause i'm always knowing where she's been, living on the wrong side of the tracks"...to... my fav "she looks just like my sister, but feels just like my man."