Vanessa Carlton Harmonium Zip Full Of Metaphorical

Had the channel not banned the music video perhaps Carlton would have been able to solidify the promise of Be Not Nobody in the wider popular music consciousness.

While virtually identical to its predecessor in the most important ways, its tonal difference with Be Not Nobody is jarring.

No longer the wide-eyed girl behind her piano Carlton explores far darker, intimate and more personal themes on Harmonium.

It was the second of two records that Carlton cut for AM Records, and its lack of chart performance would herald an era wherein each new album was released by a different label partner.

While structurally similar to Ordinary Day from her debut, White Houses is decidedly more introspective.

On Harmonium Carlton aims to be more than a light piano pop artist, and her singer-songwriter strengths come to the fore here more than her debut from a few years prior.

Where Ron Fair had put his creative stamp all over her debut, it is on Harmonium that the real Vanessa Carlton starts to surface in all her idiosyncratic beauty and with her own set of limitations.

The material bounces between lighthearted numbers about life, young love and infatuation to more pensive and introspective reflections on human nature, relations and emotions.

On one hand it is not nearly vapid and lighthearted enough to be simply considered an average pop album, on the other hand does it miss the introspective depths that typically characterize the singer-songwriter genre, and Carltons later albums.

More importantly, however, is that Harmonium works within the framework that it positions itself in.

On Harmonium the first glances of Carltons own artistic voice seep through.

Mostly following the template of her breakthrough debut Be Not Nobody it is in the tracks where Harmonium deviates from the formula that are the most resonating and rewarding.

While containing its fair share of poppy, life-affirming songs Harmonium is at its strongest with its introspective, more singer-songwriter based material.

Both musically and lyrically Carlton etches more towards Pieces Of You and Spirit era Jewel than the more upbeat and poppy Be Not Nobody.

White Houses is about the magic of youth, the frailty of relationships and how we lose our innocence as we grow older.

The track features the acoustic guitar playing of none other than Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham and Nicks).

Allegedly inspired by meeting a leukemia-stricken fan while on tour.

Arriving mid-album is the upbeat Private Radio, perhaps the most poppy song Carlton had penned to date, that has a sing-along chorus and a set of lyrics that is wide open for interpretation.

Vanessa Carlton Harmonium Zip Full Of Metaphorical

Half A Week Before the Winter is full of metaphorical dream-like imagery about unicorns, and vampires.

She Floats is musically closer to Be Not Nobody than any other song of the album.

The Wreckage, lyrically inspired by the frustration of being stuck in a traffic jam, is a minimalist song that sets the scene for Carltons darker and introspective direction that some of the songs on Be Not Nobody hinted upon but nevery truly explored.

All songs were written by Vanessa Carlton, except White Houses, Whos to Say, Annie, and Private Radio written by Stephan Jenkins and Vanessa Carlton.

The label and its executives tried to influence the writing and recording of the album and its aesthetics, but Jenkins swayed Carlton from caving in to demands.

Thanks to his intervention Harmonium has more of Carltons own character than that of Fairs.

MTV censored and later banned the White Houses music video for the infraction of having a solitary reference to sexual intercourse in the lyrics.

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