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Article: Anais Mitchell: Hymns for the Exiled.
- Article from:
- Sing Out!
- Article date:
- January 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Sing Out Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ANAIS MITCHELL Hymns for the Exiled Waterbug 0058
When first offered this CD for review I hesitated. Would it be yet another young, whiny singer-songwriter or worse, another Ani imitator? To my relief Anais Mitchell breaks free of the weight of her genre. Her stark, quirky and often political songs score a quick knockout. Sure, she's young and her songs are idiomatic of Generation Whatever, but they mesmerize with their Byzantine phrasing and original imagery. She also quotes T.S. Elliot, Egyptian singer Om Kalsoum, George Orwell, Prince, Phil Ochs, Gram Parsons and a slew of significant dates in history. This keeps the flow of words interesting, to say the least. ...