Natalie Merchant

I don't know of any band that was worse-named than 10,000 Maniacs. They were one of my favorite groups of the '80s--I saw them in concert five times, I think--but despite the name, which suggests some kind of heavy metal schlock, they instead were dominated by their vocalist, Natalie Merchant, who wrote songs that defied categorization, but were mostly what might be termed adult contemporary, albeit backed with the excellent guitar playing of Robert Buck.

After she left the group, I picked up her first few solo albums, which were in a similar vein but gave up any pretense of being rock and roll, as Buck's guitar was gone. Instead she sort of rolled into the Lilith Fair genre, along with Tori Amos, Sara McLachlan, and others who were noted for being sensitive singer-songwriters.

Merchant is now in her 50s, her long dark hair streaked with gray, and he has released her first album of original material in almost a decade. Self-titled, it is a gorgeous record, full of haunting melodies and elegiac lyrics.

She wrote all the songs and produced them as well, and she has an unerring ear for instrumentation. My favorite song on the album is "Black Sheep," which in keeping with the record, is in a minor key, but the use of a mischievous clarinet gives the song a bit of humor, which is otherwise lacking here.

Other songs are considered with ghosts or the end--the last song is literally entitled "The End:"

"That will be the end of arms stretched wide, of begging for bread, of emptiness inside. And the sea, so wide and treacherous, and the land, so dark and dangerous, so far left behind. That'll be the end of the war, when we finally lay down the barrel and the blade and go home."

A nice, melancholy end to a melancholy album. If that isn't depressing enough, we get "It's A-Coming," which could be the anthem of pessimism:

"It's a-coming. Wild fires, dying lakes, landslides, hurricanes, apocalypse in store like nothing ever seen before. It's a-coming."

Other songs, in a similar mode, are titled "Seven Deadly Sins" and "Maggie Said." The upbeat numbers are the opener, "Ladybird," in which the title bird is urged to spread wings and fly, and "Go Down, Moses," a biblical allegory relocated to New Orleans. There is also "Lulu," a tribute to silent-film actress Louise Brooks.

Though Merchant may not be optimistic, lyrically speaking, she has couched her sentiments in beautiful music that can be uplifting. Her distinctive, throaty voice, which I hadn't heard in a while, at times soars in majesty. This is a fine album.