As Smart as We Are Review

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(More customer reviews)Reviewed by Jennifer Leblanc for Small Spiral Notebook
Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp of One Ring Zero hate writing lyrics. So they got the pros to do it for them. Not the usual songwriting pros, though; 17 award-winning, famous literary authors. Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Lethem and A.M. Homes are just a few of the contributors. If it wasn?t for this project, we might never have known that Myla Goldberg is a classically trained flutist as well as novelist. That?s one of the numerous off things about One Ring Zero?s new cd, As Smart As We Are
This is not background music, I warn you. This is not a cd for a party, dinner, reading or otherwise. This is a cd to be heard and combed through like poetry, and it?s worth every minute. The main instruments alone demand your complete attention- the claviola, toy piano, side whistle, Theremin, and Glockenspiel. Yes, the Swiss musical clock made famous by a Frasier episode. The overall sound is that of a demented circus (if you are afraid of clowns, this cd is not for you), sometimes reminding you of a puppet show (the lyrics in the booklet are attached to strings). At other times, such as in #5, ?Kiss Me You Brat? by Rick Moody, waltzes and carousels come to mind.
One of the best songs, which sound most like an average song, is ?Blessing? by Denis Johnson. Unlike most others, this has a chorus, and I personally think that Johnson could give up his day job to write country music. Myla Goldberg, who could do the same to play the flute, wrote Golem, calling the fabled Jewish monster ?my sedimental Valentine.?
The best song for the lyrics is by Dave Eggers, ?The Ghost of Rita Gonzalo?. His words don?t even need music:
If I were a well I would want you to yell down my depths
Your voice booming,
Echoing
My well is deep and black. This entertaining and exotic cd will certainly echo in your mind long after listening, which anyone will feel the need to do several times.


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