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Karen Mantler: Business is Bad
ByFrom hungry street people in New York's Central Park catching and eating everything from squirrels and frogs to ducks and rabbits ("Catch as Catch Can"), dealing with the loss of a friend ("Surviving You") and bill collectors ("Business is Bad"), to bad legal support ("I Can't Afford My Lawyer"), the challenges of bilingualism ("Speak French"), volcanic travel disruptions ("That Damn Volcano") and the trials and tribulations of songwriting ("My Magic Pen"), Business is Bad is the most intimate album of Mantler's career. Supported only by ex-Lounge Lizards guitarist/bass clarinetist Doug Wieselman and, back from Pet Projects, bassist Kato Hideki, Mantler echoes Robert Wyatt's stream-of-consciousness approach to songwriting, where a song's kernel can run from the tragic to the banal.
Mantler opines about the perils of improvisation on the tango-esque "My Solo," a song of near-haiku lyric brevity:
"Here is a song
that features me
on harmonica.
If I had words
I would sing,
not play a solo.
All I can do
is try my best.
Hope I don't get lost.
I find it hard
to improvise."
And yet, at nearly seven minutes, Mantler manages to assuage any qualms about her improvisational capabilities, layering spare harmonica lines over her supporting piano, with Hideki holding down the pulse and Wieseman providing a combination of color, rhythmic support ...and the occasional spartan but impressive solo of his own.
As much as Business is Bad is about generally unpleasant subjects, Mantler leaves a brief message at the end of the CD booklet that's hopeful: "Business Bad, Music Good." It's a message that she needn't have articulated explicitly; with Mantler's calm, almost detached vocal delivery and music that is often a paradoxically beautiful contrast to the subject at hand, Business is Bad may, indeed, be about bad things but it feels oh so good.
Track Listing
Catch as Catch Can; My Magic Pencil (Wrote This Melody); Speak French; Wintertime; Surviving You; Business is Bad; I Can't Afford My Lawyer; My Solo; That Damn Volcano.
Personnel
Karen Mantler
pianoKaren Mantler: vocals, harmonica, piano; Doug Wieselman: guitar, bass clarinet; Kato Hideki: bass.
Album information
Title: Business is Bad | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: XtraWATT/ECM