"flicker" - kathryn williams

"but you sit there for hours watching programmes you don't plan to watch they just come on"



i made a decision this evening that i wasn't going to turn the tv on. this was mostly because i worry about the detrimental effect it has on my daughter's brain development (and mine for that matter) and because i wanted to get on with my plan to play her as wide a range of albums as possible. i started off with the angelou album because of how much it had been in my head earlier and them we moved on to this album.

i bought this record purely on the basis of seeing her perform one track on the mercury awards show and for the most part was not disappointed. it's pretty and witty and thoughtful and immaculately scored (though i'd like to hear the bass do more than plonk) and, even though its a bit too folky for me to listen to often, i enjoy it when i'm in the mood.

so in the middle of spooning yoghurt in the vague direction of a baby's face these lines jumped out at me and knocked me back. maybe it was just a guily conscience on this matter - but it felt like she was levelling this accusation straight at me. oh but its true. there are so many things i want to do, things my wife wants me to do and things i really should do that i just never get around to doing. and theres noone to blame but me. theres not enough time, but theres a lot more than im using - even on nights like this when the tv stays off.

"j'aime pas l'amour" - olivia ruiz

"si tu crois me séduire ah ce que tu te goures. je suis sourde au désir et le désir rend sourd "



back when i had cable, and if noone else was around, i occasionally used to flick over to french-speaking channel tv5. far too often it was some news , or halfway through a tv movie or that thing about sailing, but if i was lucky the show acoustic would be on. the format was beautifully simple - set in a recording studio and artists would play a song, do a bit of an interview then do another song. then they would repeat the process for another artist, then it would all be over. i saw an eclectic variety of performances on this show, but my favourite one was seeing some cute alternative-folk girl with a heavily distorted guitar and some form of tuba in her band singing cute and funny sung "la tango de qui?" i know almost nothing about olivia ruiz except the songs on this album, but most of them are great.