eveningsout

The mellowness of time

Two new albums go well with chardonnay and candles

by Anthony Glassman

They say when we reach a certain age, we tend to slow down.

I That holds true for musicians as well as the regular rank-and-file citizen. (The Rolling Stones might be an exception, but there are a lot of drugs involved there, so they don't count.)

TRUE COMPASS

TRET FURE

in the comfort of one's own home, a glass of chardonnay in hand, is another thing entirely. One might even call that a good evening.

Similarly, the new album by Alberta's favorite daughter k.d. lang is also quite mellow, but at least has a wider range of instrumentation.

Watershed is lang's first album of original music since 2000's Invincible Summer. Although not as interesting at her 2004 Hymns of the 49th Parallel collection of cover songs by Canadian songwriters like Leonard. Cohen, Neil Young, Jane Siberry and Joni Mitchell, she extends the array of sounds surrounding her mellifluous voice.

kd lang

March 28, 2008 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

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However, the latest albums by two women's music icons are studies in differing forms of mellowness.

Tret Fure has a new album, True Compass, that is the logical continuation of her 35-year career, filled with songs about life, love, and being surrounded by pets.

Her skill is evident on every song, and the stripped-down instrumentation makes it seem as though she is playing in your living

room.

Unfortunately, that also means that, if you're listening to the record on headphones you have someone playing the shaker in your left ear for an hour.

What is most remarkable about Fure, however, is her DIY ethos. Eleven years after her first solo MCA release, she flipped the bird to the big recording companies and set out on her own.

Now, 24 years later, she is still releasing music on her Tomboy Girl Records label, touring and making a swath of lesbians swoon at the very mention of her name. She will be performing in Ohio on March 28 at Adonis Nightclub in Cincinnati and on March 30 at the Peace Fellowship in Mansfield.

The biggest problem with the music on True Compass, and a danger to anyone driving to and from her upcoming shows, is that the album is... mellow, to put it nicely. The songs are not necessarily down-tempo, but they have that certain folk-rock quality that can induce drowsiness in those who are not prone to fits of hysteria at her presence. On the other hand, listening to the album

THIS FRIDAY March 28

with Jammin' Ginger

bodaetswatershed

There's a synthesizer humming away in a corner, and a couple of violins being alternately plucked and bowed. Is that an electronic drum beat one can hear on "I Dream of Spring?" Why yes, it is. How unusual.

While there is none of the country crooner that so recently reappeared with the release of Reintarnation, the 2006 collection of her early songs, at least listeners have an occasional quaver in the voice to remind them of those golden Reclines days.

Unfortunately, lang has no dates scheduled for Ohio, although she played two shows in West Virginia earlier this month. Perhaps when she is done with her Oceania, Canadian and European tours, she will get back to her fans in the Buckeye State.

Tret Fure will perform at Adonis, 4601 Kellogg Ave, Cincinnati on March 28 in a show presented by Women Out Front. More information is available at www.my space.com/womenoutfront.

On Sunday, March 30, she will be at the Peace Fellowship, 106 Sturges Avenue in Mansfield. The show is at 4 pm and tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. For information, call 419-564-6394.

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