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I’ve only been listening to Joseph Arthur for a few months, but I’ve been looking for him for years. I heard a song in the film Saved a few years ago and it stuck with me, but I never knew who it was. Every once in I while I would remember it but never knew where to find it (of course I didn’t just go buy the soundtrack). Then I heard it again in an episode of Scrubs and thanks to this website I was able to find it! Within an hour I had three of his albums (and also realized that I had one already). The song I’d been looking for was “In The Sun“.

On Thursday, March 8, I went with my sister Irene and Funky Barb to see Joseph Arthur perform at Healey’s. It was a solo performance which he apparently doesn’t do anymore. This guy is amazing - his voice is so strong and full while maintaining an edgy vulnerability.

He played for about 45 minutes and then went “backstage” (actually Healey’s kitchen). When he came back out, he said that he wasn’t nervous anymore and proceeded to play for another 45 minutes. He is such an earnest and intense artist, but not stuck in his own little world; the second half included a fair amount of dialogue with audience members and a few stories here and there.

Highlights included what I’m sure are standards: “In The Sun”, “Honey and the Moon” and “I Donated Myself to the Mexican Army”. What stood out, however, was his cover of The Smiths’ “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”, which he dedicated to Elliott Smith. Below is as clip of it that I took, as well as clips of “Devil’s Broom” and “In The Sun” (careful - “In The Sun” had a problem converting and there’s some loud white-noise at the end!):

I found that one week wasn’t long enough to get to know three albums, so it’s not going to be weekly. It also backfired because once I got to know them, I wanted to keep listening to them. Anyway, here are my current picks:

Sondre Lerche - “Phantom Punch” (2007) (Norway)

Electrelane - “The Power Out” (2004) (England)

Jeremy Enigk - “World Waits” (2006) (US)

My new goal is to actually get to know some of the 30, 000+ songs in my iTunes library. I have over 12, 000 on my iPod and it’s ridiculous how often, while listening in Shuffle mode, I have to look at the screen to see what I’m listening to! I’ve decided to focus on about three albums a week. I’m sure I’ll already know a few songs in each album but my goal is to familiarize myself with the entire albums.

This week’s choices are:

The Crash - “Wildlife” (2002) (Finland)

Built to Spill - “Keep It Like A Secret” (1999) (US)

Tiger Lou - “The Loyal” (2006) (Sweden)