Alexandra Hamer's debut CD kicks off with the tune "Lizzie Green". It's quiet, sweetly melancholy and sounds like nothing so much as a music-box lullaby. As such it beautifully sets the tone for the rest of the album.
Hamer infuses the songs on "Anachronique" with a sense of wonder that is honest and moving, she eschews cynicism and irony. The purity of heart she displays goes well with the steampunk/clockwork texture of the music. Like opening a music box we can see all the moving parts and realize that they're not that complex yet we are still entranced. This sense of wonder is insidious, the listener is quickly lost in Alexandra's world. There's also something of the carnival in all of this. The listener doesn't exactly run off to join the circus when this CD plays, instead I found myself being coaxed by odd sideshow characters down technicolor alleys.
The end result is equal parts 19th century DREAMPOP and 21st century PHONOGRAPH MUSIC.
And I must say I really, really enjoy it.
There is a sense the *unfinished*, or at least not perfectly polished, to "Anachronique". It may be completely intentional (part of the handmade/steampunk character of the recording) or it may reveal the demo nature of this set.
Either way it hints at even better things to come, and I welcome future releases from this artist.
