The Bottom Line
Pros
- Find You Now
- Strange
- It's a Wonder
- Hey California
- New Flowers
Cons
- More of the same.
Description
- Catie Curtis sings sad songs so, so well.
- Guest appearances by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mark Erelli, Kris Delmhorst, and Erin McKeown.
- A sweet, quiet record for long, dark nights.
Guide Review - Catie Curtis - Long Night Moon
The disc starts out with "Find You Now," a tribute to an out-of-reach lover. This trips the record off to a great start, desperate longing and all. ("We'll while away the hours knowing we're not cowards ... I'm gonna find you now.")There aren't many songs that come across as much of a departure for Curtis, but that's okay. Her introverted style of songs that reach out are just plain pretty.
The strongest songs on the record include the simplistic "It's a Wonder": "Every night the stars arrange themselves like a marching band / ... With all the twists and turns we take, it's a wonder that I found you." This is Curtis' greatest asset – her ability to take a subject so difficult to pin and poeticize about, and turn it into something plain, simple, easy, and honest.
Further along, on the cheeky "Hey California," she sings a tribute to the Golden state, "California Dreaming" style. She sings, "The ground below us is frozen, the snow keeps coming down / ... hey California, we're cold as hell, but we've got ways to entertain ourselves."
This is followed by the more introspective "New Flowers," which turns back to an overall sense of nostalgia and longing, but this time for one's own self – which is what all the songs are about, when you get down to it.
