Dave Graney explains things this way: “[t]he title comes from a 1920s book of French stories. I came across a new word and looked it up in the glossary and the meaning was put as ‘fearful wiggings’. I took it to mean ‘great anxiety’.”
Thankfully, with the exception of Everything Is Perfect In It’s Beginning [sic], there is nothing anxiety-provoking about the album. Rather, his latest, stylish collection of musings is mostly soothing.
It’s unmistakably Graney. The album is carefully crafted and a beautiful, languorous listen. In a time where 30-minute albums are de rigueur, the longer play is refreshing.
The songs are united by a dream-like lethargy. We are kicked out of the idyll only temporarily in Everything Is Perfect In It’s Beginning. It’s discordant – purposefully so and makes for unsettling listening. Otherwise, nothing’s urgent here. Sometime’s Graney’s barely singing and the album is sparsely arranged.
It’s worth noting that he is joined on I Know You Can’t See Me by Lisa Gerrard, but you wouldn’t know it. She can sing the shit out of anything, but her vocals are confined to background ambience. It’s a sad song, with lines like, “I know you can’t see me, since I quit drinking.”
Mostly though, the lyrics are surreal. Who the hell knows what’s going on? It doesn’t matter. It’s always been hard to know whether Graney is taking the piss. This album is no different. He’s smarter than the rest of us, but again, it doesn’t matter. Just listen…
BY MEG CRAWFORD
Best Track: I’m The Stranger In Town
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Je t’aime… moi non plus JANE BIRKIN/SERGE GAINSBOURG Into the Labyrinth DEAD CAN DANCE
In A Word: Dreamy
