{"id":19479,"date":"2017-07-16T12:41:37","date_gmt":"2017-07-16T16:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=19479"},"modified":"2017-07-18T15:00:51","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T19:00:51","slug":"weekend-music-break-offa-rex-the-queen-of-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/weekend-music-break-offa-rex-the-queen-of-hearts\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend Music Break: Offa Rex, “The Queen of Hearts”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Image:<\/a><\/p>\n

[Offa Rex: Olivia Chaney (third from left) and The Decemberists]<\/em><\/p>\nW<\/span>hile I’ve known of The Decemberists<\/a> for years, and appreciate their reputation (among folks whose musical taste I trust) as musical geniuses, innovators, and so on, I confess that I’ve not spent much time listening<\/em> to them. I should probably be embarrassed, too, never (until now) to have heard of English folkie Olivia Chaney. But plenty of others have heard of her<\/a>, raved over her songwriting and performance… So as it happens, this “Offa Rex” joint project has given me plenty of opportunity to listen to all of them together.<\/p>\n

The Queen of Hearts<\/em>, says NPR<\/a>, is “an interpolation of vintage British Isles folk music as filtered through electric guitars and a sinewy rock backbeat. The result is both a tribute and translation, connecting the dots between contemporary indie music and a deeper cultural legacy.” Adds\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>:<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not going to go far wrong with Chaney — a thrilling singer, the Anne Briggs<\/a> of her generation — on a set of folk standards, but [The Decemberists’ Colin] Meloy and co also deliver. A shimmering, echoing ambience includes chiming guitars, drones, cello, harpsichord and harmonium; the churning “The Old Churchyard” is a standout.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can’t think of much to add to either estimation (or, to pick just one more, this<\/a>). But yes: “The Old Churchyard, especially,” grabbed me from the first listen. And Chaney’s rendition of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” while having almost nothing in common with Roberta Flack’s, can stand right alongside it.<\/p>\n

Here’s Offa Rex then, and Queen of Hearts<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Offa Rex: Olivia Chaney (third from left) and The Decemberists] hile I’ve known of The Decemberists for years, and appreciate their reputation (among folks whose musical taste I trust) as musical geniuses, innovators, and so on, I confess that I’ve not spent much time listening to them. I should probably be embarrassed, too, never (until […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Weekend Music Break: Offa Rex, \"The Queen of Hearts\"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2252,74],"tags":[1931,4563,4564],"class_list":{"0":"post-19479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-midweek-music-break","8":"category-music","9":"tag-folk-music","10":"tag-the-decembrists","11":"tag-olivia-chaney","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/offarex_sm_thumb.jpg?fit=640%2C261&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-54b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19479"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19488,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19479\/revisions\/19488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}