Dedicated Aria Post

I just wanted to dedicate a whole post to one partiulcar part of the ARIA awards, last night.

That is, the amazing Clare Bowditch winning the award for Best Female Artist! As far as the general public goes, there are lots of people out there who don't know who she is, little lone experienced the amazing brilliance that is "What was Left".
I was flicking thru my entires over the last 12 months, and was surprised that I only mentioned Clare a few times (see here, here and here) besides my big rant about the album here. I have to say though, rereading my thoughts from almost 12 months ago, that my opinion has changed somewhat.

I have to say, that it would be my number 1 album of the last 12 months (although released last year). It just kept growing on me. And then... at a point, I realised some things, some thing that makes me a bit too arty farty wankish, but im gonna say it anyways. I have to ask forgiveness from everyone (Clare included) if I've gone too far with this, but its the way the album makes sense to me, its the way it affected me...

The album essential has a beautiful flow to it... one unlike any I can recall. Essentially the centre of the album is significant. I feel like the whole album in one way or another is connected to grief. Directly the first 9 tracks...
Track 7 (the centre) - the thing about grief, pretty much tells us where we've been going. The idea of loss and grief is very relevant throughout the album, songs about contemplating divorce, being disilussioned in a relationship(s), and many other subtle tracks that point us in the direction of dealing with things in life that just dont go perfectly (lips like oranges, might not be as quirky as she cuts hair by darren hanlon, but definately gets the point accross - in a refreshing and uplifting way) and which way to go puts us is a place we've all been, uncertainty.

Having said this, it isnt depressing (unless you want it to be).

After the thing about grief, its like Clare pushes us, and almost wants to break us down to experience her grief. The climax here is track 9 - when i was five... which paints a picture of dealing with the death of a sister at the age of 5, with the amazing lyric "and all these memories... are they mine or other peoples?".
Not leaving us in a heap on the floor (which i doubt would be her intention) the final tracks on the album are much more hopeful and lifefull (a word that i think i just made up). Yet, they still manage to have undertones of the world being a place that doesnt quite work out all the time.
Finishing with "Yes I miss you like the rain" is a beautiful way of saying, hey - this is where we've just been... dont forget it...

This album has just been so real to me. I have to say that lyrics are sometimes something that just disapeer for me, they are almost irelevant. But here... Its a perfect marriage of music and lyric. For more on the music check out my review from Dec 4 last year - more musically based.

I've just got the first album (Autumn Bone) and I imagine I will write something about that at some point.

So... whats the point. Congratulations Clare Bowditch! I have to admit that I never thought that this album would reach this many people, hopefully it meant something to others in the way it meant something to me.