Other People's Love Songs Corey Dargel
COREY DARGEL
OTHER PEOPLE'S LOVE SONGS
release date: October 28, 2008
Corey Dargel is a “baroquely unclassifiable” (New Yorker) composer, lyricist, and singer of “elegantly skewed” (Time Out New York) electronic art-pop songs that stir the heart and delight the mind. His gentle assault on the pop idiom creates a tension that pervades his music: deadpan and detached vocals reveal heartbreaking intimacies, awkward and obtrusive drum patterns struggle against fragile harmonies, vocals and music uneasily opposing each other as songs stumble to their ends.
Other People’s Love Songs is Corey Dargel’s New Amsterdam debut, based on an earnest and sentimental concept: All thirteen songs were commissioned by individuals as gifts to their significant others. Corey Dargel – composer, lyricist, and singer – interviewed the couples and learned all about their histories, personalities, quirks, private jokes, and emotional lives. He spun this tender data into music and lyrics that encompass a wide range of feelings. The real-life subjects of these songs range from celebrities to the “couple next door.” Newlyweds, long marrieds, gay couples, siblings, daughters, mothers, and others stepped forward to commission these songs. At times, the results are almost voyeuristic in their intimacy.
The album received equal praise for the unique content of the songs as well as Dargel’s compositional ingenuity. George Grella of The Big City praises that “every song seems to capture a different facet of a complex, adult, human emotion” as well as the “quirky and off-kilter, eccentric accompaniments that give an experimental and interior aspect to the songs.” He has likewise been lauded for his “incredibly fine-tuned ear for lyric-setting and a knack for writing melodies that twist unpredictably” (17 Dots) and “keen eye for the small, quirky details that are uniquely personal to each relationship” (Music, Musings, and Miscellany). The project was also featured in a deeply personal interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition,in which host Alison Stewart paired Corey with some of the couples that commissioned the songs to talk about the process and results.
—
Tracklisting:
My Voice Is In Your Head (For Katie From Teresa).wav
Berkeley, California (For Da from Honor)
Your Secret's Safe (For Ansel From Eve)
Had I Jumped (For Anne From Kurt)
All Other Sounds (For Brian From Molly)
The Men We Used To Be (For Paul From Jack)
Magnetically Elusive (For Moe From eric)
Hurry Up And Settle Down (For Damon From Jenn)
Seagulls (For CJ From Karen)
Lullaby (For 45x From Rachel)
Five Of A Kind (For Carl From Kristin)
Summer Of Love (For Maile From Jeff)
Six Point Five Billion People (For Catherine From Phil)
PRESS & NEWS
ARTIST
