Aural Fixations

PETRA HADEN AND BILL FRISELL
Petra Haden and Bill Frisell
(Sovereign Artists)
PETRA HADEN
Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out
(Bar/None)
When popular 90s alt.pop band That Dog split, most eyes turned toward singer/songwriter Anna Waronker regarding the solo career. No disrespect to the talented Waronker, but the smart money is on violinist/harmony singer Petra Haden. While she's pursued a willfully eccentric path in her music, Haden—daughter of jazz giant Charlie Haden and brother of Spain frontperson Josh Haden—has never been less than interesting and often riveting.

Her latest records are good examples. Petra Haden and Bill Frisell teams her with genius jazz guitarist Frisell for a startlingly eclectic song selection given tasteful and low-key performances. The pair builds a lush sound from Frisell's electric and acoustic overdubs and Haden's multi-tracked harmonies; she also contributes string arrangements that mostly stay in the background, filling in whatever space is left over. But the real strength is the strong, sensitive readings Haden gives the tunes. She's perfectly comfortable with both old pre-rock standards (Gershwin's "I've Got a Crush on You" and Disney's "When You Wish Upon a Star") and alternative rock gems (the Foo Fighters' "Floaty," Elliott Smith's "Satellite"). She and Frisell seem particularly easeful with the old folk song "John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man." Tom Waits' "I Don't Want to Grow Up" becomes a sweet-sounding but desperate child's confessional; Stevie Wonder's "I Believe" morphs into an atmospheric tone poem. Haden and Frisell rescue Coldplay's "Yellow" from heavy rotation atrophy with a recording that oozes soul, and give "Moon River" a sublime reading that similarly rescues it from golden moldyhood. Possibly the biggest triumph here is a resplendent take on the Tuvan traditional song "Bai-la Taigam." Rounded out by a couple of wordless originals, there's not a bum cut in the batch; when the pair really hits its stride on a song, the results are stunning. Put more simply, Petra Haden and Bill Frisell is just a fucking beautiful record. [buy it]

Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out is, as advertised, an a cappella version of the Who's 60s classic. Using a Tascam 8-track borrowed from underground hero Mike Watt, Haden uses a similar technique to Todd Rundgren on his underrated gem A Cappella, taking an almost symphonic approach to overdubbing her own voice to replace the original instruments. What makes this worth more than just a quick listen before discarding it is that she uses as little processing as possible. Rather than disguising her singing as, say, a guitar, she uses her versatile vocal techniques to suggest the instrumentation. In particular she avoids imitating Keith Moon's hurricane drumming style, leaving many tracks devoid of percussion sounds altogether. This approach gives cuts like "Armenia City in the Sky" and especially "I Can See For Miles" a lightness of feel they never had in the hands of Townshend and company. Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out is a novelty record, to be sure, but it's a surprisingly substantial one. [buy it]

Now that Haden has proven herself to be one of the most inventive and soulful interpreters on the contemporary music scene, it's time for her to turn her attention to original material. If these records are any indication, she won't have any problem distinguishing herself as an artist worth giving your undivided attention. Michael Toland