Kate Mann - Things Look Different When The Sun Goes Down Review
Posted by Jasper Jones on 02.21.2009
Kate Mann, the soulful desert gypsy, is back with an album about an uncontrollable conscience. Does it live up to her previous masterpiece Devil's Rope?
Kate Mann - Things Look Different When The Sun Goes Down
1. "Things Look Different When The Sun Goes Down" (3:19)
2. "Robert Johnson Knew" (3:15)
3. "Here Again" (4:24)
4. "Needles and Pins" (3:07)
5. "Funny Thing" (3:47)
6. "Loki's Lullaby" (3:28)
7. "Bird In My House" (3:24)
8. "La Llorona" (2:34)
9. "In A Movie" (4:57)
10. "Drag The River" (3:06)
11. "You Can Have My Heart" (3:28)
"Moody Americana" is the best way to describe the music of Kate Mann. She has the uncanny ability to draw listeners into the setting of the song. The music is very rustic and root-sy, as if Mann had sprouted straight out of the Earth. Although, her music seems very ethereal and spiritual at the same time. All these qualities mesh into a home-spun, haunting sound that keeps the listener quite intrigued.
Things Look Different When The Sun Goes Down was released on November 2, 2008 on Orange Dress Records. Even though the album was recorded and mixed at 8-Ball Studios in Portland, the influences of Mann's home state of New Mexico are strong. The album has the setting of a perpetual New Mexico desert sunset that brings about a number of things, some good and some bad.
The album has a loose story-line running through it. Kate Mann acts like a gypsy narrator, leading the listener through the story. She reminds me of Clopin from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The opener, "Things Look Different When The Sun Goes Down", is about a woman who appears to have it all, but she's actually got nothing but torture. People think she's blessed with good fortune, but no one knows what goes on behind closed doors. "Some might say she's lucky, all her dreams come true/ But the problem is that most of them are nightmares./ The ghosts they visit nightly, there is nothing she can do/ So she just lies in bed and tries not to move." The song then goes on to suggest that she might have done something terrible to deserve these night terrors and this paranoia.
The second track, "Robert Johnson Knew" continues the woman's story. In desperation, she contemplates going down to the crossroads to sell her soul to the devil because it worked so well for Robert Johnson. "I haven't sold my soul to the devil yet, but I think that I just might/ Robert Johnson seems like he knew a thing or two." Throughout the song she flip-flops on her decision, weighing the pros and cons. She finally decides on an escape plan if everything goes wrong. " Will I really have to write my name in blood?/ Does forever mean forever, or just until I get tired?/ I can always say that I misunderstood."
Over the next few tracks, the woman comes close to losing her mind. Her conscience is weighing heavy and her paranoia is growing more intense. On "Bird In My House" she finally realizes that she must confess. "There's a bird in my house and I don't know what to do./ Somebody left the window open, and in the bird flew./ Now he’s sitting on the table and he's staring back at me./ I can tell by his expression that he doesn't want to leave." The bird symbolizes that she'll never get over what she's done. It will continue to haunt her forever.
The woman finally confesses to drowning a girl in the second to last track, "Drag the River". Due to the numerous references to rain and water in the previous songs, the listener should be able to deduce what the woman had done. "Drag the river, drag the river./ I look into the water and she's staring back at me./ I look into the mirror and it's her eyes that I see./ She haunts my house, she haunts my dreams, she will not let me be./ Drag the river, drag the river."
The main focus of the songs are Kate Mann's soulful, soothing voice and her acoustic guitar. The cello, piano, fiddle, accordion, and harmonica are featured on some, but even then it's her voice and her acoustic that shine. Things Look Different When The Sun Goes Down is a well put together album that's eerie, yet irresistible.
The 411: Things Look Different When The Sun Goes Down is the loose story of a woman whose conscience won't let her get away with murder. Kate Mann's excellent storytelling is matched only by her smooth voice and ability to draw the listener into her music.
