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Album Details

• Artist: Tall Grass Captains of Greater Chicago
• Album: She Moved Through
• Label: Ubique
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2005-05-16

Inspired by recent and devastating personal losses, she is both an elegy and a wakeup call.
Chicago guitarist (Grenadier) Mark Mattson has chosen a dangerous line to walk here: melancholy pop based on personal tragedy is a recipe for the maudlin and self-pitying. It is also the vehicle for hope, the brightness of the melodies a counterpoint to the grief of the lyrics. On tight gems as "World Exploding", he successfully walks the line, creating sonic reassurance to himself and the listener. This is more successful in "Her Love Has Time Defiled", which approaches tour de force territory. Less successful is the epic-aspirations of "Our Lady of Perpetual Motion", which tries too hard to make the big profound statement, instead of letting the subject express itself. But risk is so lacking in much of today's music, that if this record is a failure, it is a brilliant one. I don't see it as a failure--or brilliant-but Mattson succeeded in paying respects in style to a group of women who, based on what he shows us here, must have been extraordinary.

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