WARNING: Obligatory pun on Michelle Branch's name ahead.
Michelle Branch is an environmentally friendly artist. On her second album, she's managed to save a few trees by recycling herself into Hotel Paper.
(GROAN.)
Alright, so that joke was rather contrived, but there's a grain of truth to it. When listening to the latest disc by this developing teen artist, I can't help but feel like I've heard it all before. As much as I criticized the young singer/songwriter's first album, The Spirit Room, for overpowering her guitar playing with drum loops and other production effects, I had to admit that ultimately, most of my favorite moments on that album were when she decided to "bring the pop". Maybe I was just excited that, in an era of manufactured young pop artists, someone was actually making a fair attempt to do it herself and let others embellish it versus letting someone else write the songs and just show up and sing when it was her time to do so. Whatever the case, I figured that the other overpowering elements would fade away as Michelle found herself artistically, and we'd get to hear more of her and less of everyone else the next time around.
So it's summer 2003, and the curiously titled Hotel Paper has finally arrived, and I can say that my predictions are sort of true. This seems to be more of a less programmed, more guitar-based album, though most of Michelle's contributions guitar-wise are simple chord strumming on the acoustic, the lead electric work being taken care of by someone in her studio band. No biggie; those players are still working within the framework of the melodies and words that she composed (sharing writing credits with producer John Shanks on only four tracks while taking on the rest alone). I still feel like what I'm getting overall is more of Michelle and less of everyone else than the last time around.
The downside is that this record just isn't as interesting. To be honest, I think I miss some of the poppier aspects of the first album now that I've heard an attempt at a more "organic" record. While there were a few tracks on The Spirit Room where the programming overpowered pretty much everything else, I couldn't say that I got bored with any of those songs. There are a few here that just don't do it for me. Perhaps Michelle just hasn't figured out how to reign herself in subject-wise, but I sometimes feel like pretty much every song on this record is about the same darn thing. Now I can enjoy a good breakup song or bitter ex song as must as the next guy or gal - I like Matchbox 20, after all - but when I feel like nothing's being learned over the course of an album rehashing said breakup, I get frustrated.
Who knows, maybe I just expect more from the girl who wrapped her previous album of mostly relationship-driven songs in a pair of more magical, perhaps even "spiritual" tunes called "Everywhere" and "Drop in the Ocean". I realize that there's a lot of psuedo-spirituality on the radio today, and I haven't really been one to get caught up in the whole "Is she or isn't she?" debate that a lot of Christian listeners have carried way too far, but hey, it provided a possible change in subject matter. Relationships seem to be the most overdone topic on the radio dial these days, and at least on the last album, I could say that Michelle had a healthy balance when addressing the topic - "You Set Me Free" was just plain sunny and fun to groove to, "You Get Me" offered hope for all of us "weird people" who wanted a chance at love, and "Goodbye to You" tackled a tough breakup with genuine wisdom. This time around, it's pretty much "I miss you, I'm mad at you, I'm not over you yet." Makes one wonder what happened to the poor girl right before she went into the studio to write these songs.
Intro
It's unfortunate that Michelle makes the same mistake as Linkin Park by opening her album with a short, pointless intro track. It's just a cheesy, whimsical recording that sounds like the intro to a kid's TV show from the 50's, and it doesn't segue well into the first song at all.
Are You Happy Now?
You took all there was to take
And left me with an empty plate
And you don't care about it...
Don't le the slightly playful keyboard intro fool you on this one - this is probably the angriest song Michelle's written yet. Radio is getting to hear a different side of her at the moment, and while she's no Alanis Morissette, she does a good job of shifting between sparse, brooding verses and a full-throated chorus that calls her former lover out onto the carpet. Basically, she's ticked off that he could just call things off so quickly and walk away without telling her what he's really thinking. She wants to know if he truly feels like he's better off without her, and unfortunately this sentiment doesn't come off as strongly as it should. I mean, what good could come of answering that question? "Why yes, actually I am happy now." Oh, okay, now I feel better. I suppose you could call it a "big rock song", but the guitars seem to be a bit buried underneath the drums and vocals this time out. But I'm sure this won't stop it from becoming the anthem of dejected teenage girls nationwide.
Find Your Way Back
What if I said what I was thinking?
What if that says too much?
I suppose this one's an obvious follow-up single due to its placement and it's similarities to "All You Wanted" - it leads off with a melody that doesn't grab you immediately, but the chord structure manages to turn an interesting corner here and there. It seems to me one of the more positive songs on the record - Michelle seems a little more assured that this time without her former boyfriend in her life is meant for them both to find themselves, though she seems to indicate that once they're done with that, she's hoping they'll find their way back to one another. It ain't rocket science, but I suppose sometimes it's true that a couple needs a good sabbatical. She does manage to hook the listener with the interesting line "I used to get away with so much/Now I can't get away", which is repeated later in the song, leading the listener to expect one of those "end with the beginning" moments like in "All You Wanted", but instead there's a pause and then the chorus returns. Not bad.
Empty Handed
There's a prism by the window
It lets the light leak in
I wish you would let me
You feel the water, but do you swim?
Things begin to slow down a little here as Michelle takes on a mid-tempo rock track that took a few listens to grab my attention. I suppose this is a classic case of showing me what I miss when I'm not really listening, because I'm starting to really dig the ominous acoustic chords that open the song, and the fairly catchy chorus, and especially the awesome "La-da-da-da-eeh-ah" vocal breakdown in the middle of the song. The meaning of this song is a little easier to unravel - it seems to be about wanting to go away to a distant place to escape the misery of a breakup, but there might be a different subject in play here. There are lyrics like "I'll take that chance 'cause I just wanna pray" that seem to throw a bone to those listeners who feel like they have a divine right to be informed of her religious beliefs, and yet elsewhere in the song, she asserts that "Some people mistake me/The only hear what they want to hear." Perhaps this song is really about Michelle as a young artist, not wanting to be shackled by those who expect her to expound on what she does or doesn't believe. (It's just music, folks, and a rather harmless variety at that - you don't have to dig so hard for reasons to justify listening to it!)
Tuesday Morning
If I had known then that these things happen
Would they have happened with you?
Michelle continues to mull over her broken relationship in another mid-tempo song that has more of a sweet melody but really not as much of a hook to it. Here she revisits her seeming fascination with sleep - namely, being in the same room with someone she loves while they are sleeping. (This was explored on the last album in the song "Something to Sleep to".) She recounts an early morning encounter - perhaps it was sexual or perhaps it was simply a stirring conversation, that she now carries with her as a landmark event in her life - "We were finding out who we are". Those who remember the trials of their teenage years, specifically the social inconvenience of not having a car, will likely relate to her plea, "Please don't drive me home tonight". Don't you hate that, when you stay up talking to someone until you're dead tired, and then one of you has to drive the other home?
One of These Days
I didn't notice, but I didn't care
I tried being honest, but that left me nowhere
This one's a bit different for Michelle - it's a piano ballad, and it's also one of the only electronically driven pieces on the album. Think "Sweet Misery" with piano instead of guitar and you might get the picture. The song attempts to tell a story of two jaded lovers parting ways and attempting to show indifference, and of course Michelle sees right through the guy's fakeness but still manages to fake it herself. I don't know; I feel like the story told could be more interesting, and I could also do without this weird clicking that I get in one ear when I listen to this song wearing headphones. Overall it's a pretty song but it also doesn't leave much of an impression on me.
Love Me Like That
Well, I've walked this world five times or more
And after all this walking, babe, you still got me crawling on the floor...
I certainly didn't see this one coming! Out of nowhere comes acoustic guitar ecstasy as a surprisingly twangy riff comes trickling out of the speakers. As several astute listeners have pointed out, Michelle's got a total Dixie Chicks thing going on here (not surprising given that she's touring with the Chicks this summer), and just to add a little extra marketability - er, I mean pizazz - to the song, Sheryl Crow shows up as a guest vocalist. The funny thing is that I can't tell where Michelle ends and where Sheryl begins. I guess that's a good thing - this might just be the first time Ms. Crow has managed to not annoy me. The lyrics tell off a careless lover in an almost bluesy way - Michelle asks "Why you love me like that?" as if to indicate that his idea of loving wasn't really loving at all.
Desperately
You looked my way, you said "you frustrate me"
Like you're thinking of lines and times when you and I were you and me...
I feel like it's too early to come down after the fun romp of "Love Me Like That" fades out. Perhaps that's why I haven't been as interested in this delicate acoustic number as I feel like I should be. It's Michelle doing the sort of coffeehouse thing that she hasn't done since Broken Bracelet, so what's not to love? Oh yeah, probably the lyrics. She's falling for a guy that she knows she shouldn't be falling for. It all just seems so redundant after "Goodbye to You" seemed to have such finality on the matter - and sure, maybe she's referring to a different relationship, but I'm just not connecting with this one. I do like that it gives her a chance to show off her vocal range a little bit, though.
Breathe
Well, it's all so overrated
In not saying how you feel
So you end up watching chances fade
And wondering what's real
This one starts with a cool, fast-paced muted strum, which unfortunately gets overtaken by the same aggressive drums that blurred the focus in past songs like "If Only She Knew". Sure, I'm glad that Michelle has taken on a more fast-paced number amidst an album of slower tunes, but I've already heard one too many songs comparing a lover to oxygen for this one to do much for me. It's an obvious future single, I suppose, but I'm hoping that Maverick holds off releasing it until "Empty Handed" and "Find Your Way Back" have had a shot at radio.
Where Are You Now?
Maybe I'd do better on my own
No one ever seems to understand me
It's easier for me to be alone
There's still a piece of me that feels so empty...
For some reason, I'm just having trouble describing a lot of the songs on this album. This is probably the song that stands out the least to me - while it has a chorus that I catch myself humming sometimes, there isn't much that makes it sound very interesting to me. A slightly jerky guitar strum at the beginning, a little splash of organ, a decent amount of rhythmic punch... I suppose that's an interesting mix in principle, but in practice it sounds like a filler tune. Plus it's another song whose title ends in "Now?", so it's begging to be confused with the lead single even though the two songs sound nothing alike. Basically Michelle's written a song about seeking out her long lost lover amidst a massive crowd of people. She won't be satisfied with anyone else until she finds him... or maybe someone who reminds her enough of him that she can deal. I'm just not up for my usual analysis at this point, I guess.
Hotel Paper
You turned out to be more than I bargained for
And I can tell that you need to get away
Forgive me if I meant that I'd love to love you
We both realized it way too late...
Thankfully, Michelle breaks the flow of mediocre songs here by introducing a folksy ballad in 3/4 time (everyone knows my weakness for 3/4 songs by now, right?) This one's definitely got a "road-weary" feel to it, which is of course nothing new for a young artist still adjusting to the hectic nature of life on tour, but she manages to win me over ever so slightly by describing how she soothes her sadness while on the road by writing on the paper she finds in hotel rooms. It sort of makes sense in the context of the album, because her supposedly private letter is telling this guy she's pining away over to leave his current lover and come back to her - basically all of these songs are a big long suite of "I miss you" type sentiments written from the road. Part of me can't help but feel sorry for the girl at this point - she captures loneliness perfectly in the line "Maybe this wind blowing in just came from the ocean". But I was kind of expecting some sort of a deeper analogy here. (I'll admit that part of me hoped "Hotel Paper" was a vague references to the Bibles you find in hotel drawers, but that was really stretching it, huh?)
'Til I Get Over You
Every time I feel alone
I can blame it on you, and I do...
At long last, one final song comes along that manages to grab my attention. Any wondering what the song will be about is pretty much over before it starts given the title, but hey, if you're gonna be forlorn and pine away over a guy, melancholy guitar chords, Beatles-style melodies, and a few scattered words in French are the way to do it. Listening to this song, you can feel the poor girl's sadness as she realizes that all of her attempts to move on have pretty much failed, and now she's sitting here thousands of miles away from him, realizing he still has a hold on her. As with most songs that incorporate a foreign language into their lyrics, it sounds a bit goofy when the French lines show up in the chorus at first, especially because the enunciation of "chaque fois que tu ton va" makes it sounds like she's uttering the f-word... thank God Michelle would never say that word!!! The whole thing is really quite pathetic (what kind of a sap sits around counting her tears, for crying out loud?), but for some strange reason, it works for me, because I'm just a melancholy guy who can mope with the best of 'em when I want to. The sad but cute little sigh as the song trails off into nothingness is a nice touch.
It's You
If tomorrow never comes
I would want just one wish
To kiss your quiet mouth
And trace the steps with my finger tips...
Michelle makes one of the classic "artist" moves here and closes the album with a partially finished song, just two verses and a chorus, and very minimal musical accompaniment. The generic title makes the song frustratingly vague, but it is one of the album's more hopeful songs. It's one of those songs that, like "Everywhere", can have multiple interpretations, especially when she comments that "The light changes when you're in the room." It's as if there's someone still giving her hope despite all of the forlorn thoughts and feelings she's explored on this album. And if the world ended tomorrow, she'd have no regrets if only this unnamed person was by her side.
The track fades into a strange outro, which makes a fitting bookend to the album because it's another one of those old recordings. It's interesting, because it seems to be an old hymn. It's as if it was placed here to be a reminder of something, a symbol of a deeper meaning even though I don't think most of these songs were terribly deep. Even thought the lyrics to the hymn are very positive, speaking of being lifted up by Jesus, the worn-out recording seems to indicate a tone of sadness, a hint at a blissful past she can't return to. Whatever it means, I have to say that it's rather annoying to listen to - like someone turned on the Old Time Gospel Hour on their local whitebread Christian radio station.
There's got to be more here than meets the eye, and perhaps one day it will all come together for me, but honestly, outside of a few key songs, I don't get enough enjoyment from this album to keep digging through it for clues. The idea of a set of sad and frustrated love letters written on Hotel Paper definitely seemed like an interesting idea, and getting a glimpse at the process of recording the album (as well as a few live performances) on the CD-ROM made for a nice bonus, but overall, I find myself wishing she hadn't spent so much of her effort just trying to stay inside the margins on this one. Maybe next time she'll re-emerge with a more interesting batch of songs... here's hoping she's got a different source of inspiration at that point.
ALBUM WORTH:
Intro $0
Are You Happy Now? $1.50
Find Your Way Back $1
Empty Handed $2
Tuesday Morning $.50
One of These Days $.50
Love Me Like That $1.50
Desperately $.50
Breathe $0
Where Are You Now? $0
Hotel Paper $1
'Til I Get Over You $2
It's You $1
TOTAL: $11.50
Website: http://www.michellebranch.com
(P.S. I can't believe I just found out today that Michelle Branch is one-quarter Asian. No wonder she's so darn cute.)
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