Freddy Freeman - Church St. Freedom Press, Nashville, TN
While the unknowing masses were tuning into American Idol, gender-variant singer-songwriter Namoli Brennet has been churning out amazing, self-produced albums every year since 2002. Starting with Boy in a Dress, she then released Welcome to the Afterglow, The Brighter Side of Me, and Chrysanthemum, which is her best work to date. The previous efforts were all fine work, but this record has a pretty consistent starkness that unifies the work into one mood, while previous records had an enjoyable eclecticism of style and arrangement. Chrysanthemum is filled with haunting, moaning slide guitars that evoke open landscapes and lonely soul-searching, while intricate acoustic guitars sprinkle the landscape with mist. I actually find a lot in common on this record with Joni Mitchell’s 1976 masterpiece Hejira.
The arrangements are simple and gorgeous and allow Brennet’s searching, plaintive voice to hover and whisper, moan and croon. That’s not even mentioning the lyrical content: Brennet is a wise, insightful poet who inhabits many characters of all gender expressions to tell a story. “7 hours 15 miles” is a song about coming home from the road and all the anticipated comfort and warmth of being in one’s own space. “I dreamed of water on for tea, Scratching the dog behind the ears, feeding the cat and hearing the phone; I’ve got 7 hours and 15 miles to go.”
One of the most gorgeous is the title track, “Chrysanthemum”, which uses metaphors of different kinds of flowers to illustrate the fragility of human experience. “Oh, now, forget me not, cause leaves will fade and petals will fold. I’m lying with the nightshade, sleeping with the evening primrose. Seasons go and come, and we are like chrysanthemums, delicate and lovely, yes, and we bloom while we can.” Another song with a similar theme of the beauty and magic that is a human lifetime is Stars. “Maybe we’re creatures of habit and malice, that pale in the light of aurora borealis and what if we, what if we are, what if we, what if we are, only stars; only stars, in the dark, just a spark.”
A big pleasant surprise is an unlisted piano and vocal version of a song from her debut album, “Boy in Dress” called Turning Song. As much as I love the original, this stark, stripped-down version elevates the song to a new level. Chrysanthemum is a gorgeous record that opens up delicately, just like the flower of it’s title. Brennet is a keen observer of humanity and of her own heart who uses soundscapes and moods to arrange a beautiful bouquet of songs that anyone of any gender expression or sexuality can relate to. Chrysanthemum would be a shining jewel in anyone’s music collection. Listen to clips and buy the CD by going to www.namolibrennet.com
