Today I'm a lucky girl. I'm starting my own column, AND I have one of the very first copies of Jerin Falkner's new album, Almost Completely Happy, hot off the press.
If you're a loyal Weekly Volcano reader and you're keeping track, then you'll know that I have written about Falkner before, but this is the new and improved Jerin Falkner. Oh yes, she was good before, but now she's completed her first studio recorded CD with a real producer â€" The hot girl next door has grown up and moved to Seattle.
Falkner worked with producer Jon Goff from Self Adhesive Records on recommendation from another Tacoma singer/songwriter, Jeremy Hoog, who got a thank-you mention in the liner notes. Nice. The Weekly Volcano did too by the way. Could this girl be any nicer?
Good manners are not all she has. This is an excellent record. Her six-song concept record takes you from the first blush of a crush with "Give Me a Chance," into full blown love with "Suddenly Beautiful." Then in the song called "Me" she's in that scary period where she realizes this love is real and it's hers to lose. What follows is the falling out period where we feel all five stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance â€" being processed in "Charade," and the return of emotional strength is conveyed with a slightly heavier bass and drum accompaniment on the song "Better." But in the end, Falkner's final song, "Ghost," makes you wonder if she really has accepted it or if something else is going on behind the scenes. Christine Gunn's cello makes "Ghost" sound as haunting as its name implies.
Falkner sings of her lovers' absence the way an amputee refers to a lost limb that she can still feel even though it's gone. The song effectively creates a mood that is starkly opposed to the sweet, intimate and charming effect of the preceding songs.
Falkner proves her knack for storytelling with this album. It's as though she's whispering a series of intimate love letters, with an acoustic guitar and a string quartet in the background. Almost Completely Happy is a beautiful work of art and would make an excellent movie sound track.
But I have good and bad news for you. The bad news is Almost Completely Happy won't be officially released until October. The good news is if you go to Falkner's Web site and join the mailing list you can buy an advance copy at her next show â€" tonight, 8 p.m., at Northern Pacific Coffee Co., 401 Garfield St. S. in Parkland by Pacific Lutheran University. The CD is available at this show only for $5. Falkner also notes a special guest will open.
Oh, I guess you'll need that Web address. â€" Angela Jossy
Send us your CD: The Weekly Volcano, P.O. Box 98801, Lakewood, WA 98499.