Carissa's Wierd - Songs About Leaving (V0) (2002)

There's a line with "sad" albums. You have to communicate whatever anguish, despair, loss, pain, depression, or misanthropy through the medium of your sound, which can be difficult to pull off. Lots of bands wind up simply sounding flat and boring at this point. If you can pass that first test, though, there's another line: you can't be over the top. If it's hyperbolic sadness, it's unbelievable, and if it's unbelievable, there's nothing for your listener to connect to. This is why many bands labeled "slowcore" or, as I prefer, "sadcore," reject the label. They want the bitterness in their music to sound natural, rather than forced.

Carissa's Wierd second album, Songs About Leaving, passes both of these tests with flying colors. This is by far one of the most depressing albums I have ever heard, in particular lyrically, but also musically. The album actually features two singers: Mat Brooke (who would go on to form Band of Horses with Ben Bridwell, who played bass for CW), who sings on the majority of the tracks, and Jenn Ghetto, who has an absolutely beautiful voice and who I would have liked to have heard more from. Can't have everything, I suppose. Still, Ghetto's final chorus on So You Wanna Be A Superhero is absolutely chilling:

My dreams are full of what's not real
I'll fly away to save the world
I'll make you proud someday
I just won't be around to see your face
My life is full of what's not here
I'll go away and save myself
I'll make you proud someday
I just won't be around to see your face

I do believe that if many singers attempted a chorus like that, they would immediately break the over-the-top law. With Ghetto, however, there is never any doubt that these words are coming straight from her soul. Same with Brooks' lyrics. And the thing is, the entire album is like this, and it's brilliant from start to finish--there is no let up. There is no relief. But there's also never any question of it being fake. This is a tragically real record.

Sofisticated fuck princess please leave me alone