I’ve always found being passionate, open, vulnerable, and transparent to be among the greatest qualities a person can have. We are so programmed to close off to other people about anything deeper or more personal than work, entertainment, the weather, and current events, that it’s almost shocking when we are allowed into the personal thoughts of an artist. And when those personal thoughts are arranged in the right way, and the words are chosen carefully enough, we tend to call those things works of art.
After fronting the alt-pop 10,000 Maniacs for the better part of a decade, Natalie Merchant took her talents to the studio for her solo debut Tigerlily. I love solo debuts because I like to believe the artist has been collecting songs for years without a venue to display them. They are, in so many cases, loaded with poetic gems that give us a massive picture window into the soul of the writer/performer. I have no idea if this is true for Merchant and Tigerlily, and I don’t want to look it up because I may be wrong. My perception of Tigerlily is that it’s Merchant finally breaking free of the restrictions of pop and working as part an ensemble, and finally having the artistic license to say things she’s been holding inside.
With her pitch-perfect, bright and emotional vocals, the entire album is driven by her voice, her words, and some gorgeously sparse musical arrangements. It’s a truly poetic album.
“River” is a beautiful tribute to the recently deceased (1993) River Phoenix, a once-in-a-generation acting talent that succumbed to the temptations of Sunset Blvd. I was a huge River Phoenix fan and his death was truly a tragedy; a talent and a soul so bright snuffed out long before its time. Merchant not only mourns his death, but chastises the media for essentially dissecting his life and his youthful indiscretions, all while his family, his friends and his fans were still in mourning.
So many critics at the time of Tigerlily’s release praised the album but also used words about Merchant like “lighten up” or “too intense”. I even read one that said “get over yourself”. Why is it that Daniel Day Lewis gets Oscars for his intensity and Bob Dylan gets Pulitzer prizes, while women get told to smile more and stay in their lanes? From: https://eons.substack.com/p/natalie-merchant-tigerlily
