Something you may not know about me, but explains the ridiculous amount of music I own, is that I often buy albums at thrift stores purely on impulse without prior knowledge of the artist based on factors such as record label, album art or song titles. Of course, price also factors in, hence thrift stores. In fact, most thrift stores sell CDs and vinyl so cheap that I have a very low threshold for what appeals to my buyer sensibilities. Which brings me to Lili Haydn.
The album art had a rich and entrancing color palette, and the album was released on Nettwerk, who have been known to distribute such widely diverse artists from Skinny Puppy to Sarah McLachlan. So it piqued my interested enough to pull it from the rack and scrutinize it a little more. Track listing? "Oh snap!", I thought. "She covers Funkadelic's 'Maggot Brain'. This is probably either awesome or horrible. Either way, it's a win!" I knew then I had no choice but to fork over a dollar to the bored Salvation Army employee and walk back to my car in the safe knowledge that my day had been productive.
So after a full listen of the album, it's both a little more and a little less than I was expecting. Lili Haydn approaches music as a sort of baroque (not really... but you know what I mean) folk pop violinist. The album at it's best offers a densely lush experience that reinforces the classical underpinnings of Haydn's training , best exemplified on such tracks as "Can't Win Everything" but sometimes fades into the background, strong but ultimately unremarkable. "Maggot Brain", which is indeed a near transcendent if brief interpretation, is a little different than most of the album, offering a subdued but passionate rendition not unlike the original.
Do I regret my purchase? Most certainly not! While it may not fall into constant rotation in my playlist, it is albums like this that justify my thrift store visits.
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