This Is Where We Are (SQE Music) is really sexy if you like women in cardigans. The riffs on the instrumental opener could be Zeppelin-esque, if they weren’t played on a dipthongy synth and surrounded by harps. I worked for a few months in a store that sold stuff to make kids smarter: 3-D puzzles, massive lego sets, those DVDs for babies, and a whole section of music you could listen to without disturbing the kids or teaching them about rock & roll. This Is Where I Am sounds like that stuff. That’s not a metaphor. I mean, it sounds like Priscilla Ahn had the same producer and musicians and concept as Linda Ronstadt’s 1995 album of lullabies, Dedicated to the One I Love. There’s a song called “In a Closet in the Middle of the Night.” Not to spoil it for you, but it’s about crying in a closet in the middle of the night and it would be the perfect soundtrack for that activity, since you’d probably be trying not to wake anyone up.
Every other song has some really sassy lyrics, though. “Remember When I Broke Your Heart” is a great kiss-off, with it’s majestic F.U. handcrafted and delivered by the sweetest voice this side of that girl who sang with the Postal Service. Has “I’m happier than I ever dreamed I’d be” ever sounded so mean? Priscilla sounds like she regrets the whole thing, but she still reminds you about that phone call from a parking lot in Ohio.
You’re going to love hearing this in your yoga class. And then you’ll go out and buy it—or more likely stay in and buy it from iTunes one morning while the baby’s napping—and it’ll be great to fill the air while you do some online shopping for better socks. Kind of edgy, but generally relaxing, it’s on Blue Note, so you know it’s meant for adults. But This Is Where We Are ultimately resides even further on that spectrum, into Mom-rock territory, regardless of fact that you’ll eventually hear it backing an ironically melancholy montage on Girls.
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