CD Review

Mary Bue: The World is Your Lover

Mary Bue was part of the Duluth music scene for nearly two decades, playing lovely solo songs on piano starting in the late ‘90s. Then in 2015 she went all rock and roll and learned to curse like a sailor in her lyrics, CD perhaps to counter the relatively REVIEW demure ” pianist image, or perhaps RICHARD to provide THOMAS a more effective vent for personal demons, and/or just for a change of pace.

Eventually she wrote a pop punk song called “The S--t I Left in Duluth” and moved to Minneapolis. No offense taken, though, as the song is wistful rather than bitter about this place. (Favorite line: “I took some tables to Goodwill / I got a coupon at Saver’s for 20 percent off but it’ll probably expire too soon.” As one who’s gotten many such coupons from Saver’s, I dig that.)

Down south she quickly gained recognition. The Kickstarter campaign for this album was launched in November 2018 and after nearly two years of teasing and postponed release dates (delays included switching plans from releasing it on a label to releasing it independently, and a winter retreat in India) it’s finally out.

For those who contributed to her campaign, you can certainly hear where the money went. (Disclosure: I put in $10. You can see my name in the thank-you list in the lyrics book, fourth column, not quite halfway down. Yes, right there!) It’s produced by Steve Price of The Suburbs, along with Jeremy Ylviskaker (Alpha Consumer, The Cloak Ox). Team Bue also includes Adam Levy, lead singersongwriter of The Honeydogs.

This album is different, she writes, because “the last two Kickstarter projects saw me shifting genres to ‘90s-inspired grungy indie rock. This new album is a coming-together of that rock-y shift & my piano-folkie roots.”

The rock and piano don’t exactly come together so much as coexist on an album with diverse styles. She’s judicious with the keys, eschewing them when she wants a hard-edge rock and highlighting them when she wants something closer to Carole King.

They blend together on one track, “Tequila Song,” when she merges hard and soft rock with the help of a reggae beat and insane electric guitar work by Ylviskaker.

The opening track, “S--t Storm,” sounds like a theme for a western movie set in a ghost town. Musically it’s fun, but lyrically it’s a dark and depressing, warning about climate change, with a grim nod to this region: “I had a vision the Great Lakes were

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drained / Superior Desert was her new name.”

Social activist lyrics are nothing new to Bue, and climate change is certainly the most pressing matter of our time. But if you’re serious about doing something, writing a song seems an indirect method of addressing it. Still, if it scares you enough that you’ll Google ways to reduce your carbon output, it’s done its job.

“The Hanged Man,” despite the title, is not a downer, instead a fast, engaging tune that sounds like a Pretenders tribute. It’s got that band’s signature driving beat, jangly guitar, sweet chords and even the Chrissie Hyndes-like slur in the vocals. The title actually references the Tarot card that represents self-sacrifice, and naturally that ties into a relationship: “You got me hanging from ladders upside down.”

The title track is more like the Mary Bue we all know and love, a joyful song that opens with her piano, launching it into an upbeat rocker and reminding us she has the sweetest voice this side of Natalie Merchant. The words reflect her own journey of breaking out of her ruts and routines, going out and embracing the wider world.

“All the Things” also opens with lush piano chords and adds orchestral strings (courtesy of Shannon FridRubin, violinist for Cloud Cult and Julia Floberg, cellist for Delphia) for a passionate break-up song. “You’ll be the victim, I’ll be the savior, you be the savior and I’ll be the idiot / What is this pattern, a two-way street of suffering, and I’m playing the villain again … None of us here are getting out alive, if we’re all gonna die, let me live.”

“It’s a Competition” is back to the rocking side, a duet with Levy.

“I Don’t Need” is a countryesque love song with slide guitar. As the instrumentals rise, she belts out the chorus like Sheryl Crow, overwhelmingly pulling the heartstrings.

After this extravaganza, “Gemini Eyes” seems almost a relief at first, jazzy and light, but it also becomes lushly orchestrated and intense.

“You F--k Me Up” is an acidic rock song as the title might suggest. I found the F-bombs distracting, and I started counting them rhythmically like David Bowie doing the countdown in “Space Oddity.” (I got to 12.) Despite this, it’s a great f--king song with brilliant f-- king drumming by Richard Medek.

“Insider” covers a song Tom Petty wrote for Stevie Nicks, but then he got too attached to it to give it away and they did “Stop Dragging My Heart Around” instead. They eventually sang it together on his 2006 tour. Bue recreates this duet while returning to her piano-only roots and bringing in Alan Sparhawk as co-vocalist. It’s an amazing tribute, proof that we’re still mourning Petty’s death three years after the fact.

“Jerk” sounds like a cheerful R&B love song until you pay attention to the lyrics, which are about a crummy boyfriend she’s nonetheless having a hard time dumping.

“My Ego is Huge” is short and humorous, with just vocals, guitar and hand-clapping: “My ego is huge, my ego is bruised, can’t take it anywhere, it’s on its worst behavior.” So she considers taking it to a shaman.

“Hawaii” is also short, but slow and emotional.

The album closes with “The Riverman.” The piano intro is a nod to Dolly Parton, nearly duplicating the intro to “Here You Come Again,” and it has the same bouncy beat. But the melody is its own and a 1960s-style horn section joins in. It’s about missing someone, a frequent theme in her songs.

She also sang about missing someone in “The S--t I Left in Duluth.” We have to wonder if there’s someone here she misses, or maybe she misses this town. We certainly miss her.

But if this album is any indication, moving out into the world has enabled her growth from indie gem to badass force of nature.

Corn moon

This full moon in Pisces is traditionyour work done so you can enjoy your ally referred to as the “corn moon” or leisure. Get busy so you can have your the “harvest moon.” fun.

Pisces, being the realm of emotion CANCER (June 22-July 22). Because and intuition, endows the moon with you are open and ready for new experispiritual gifts for any takers. There is no ences, life will come rushing in to greet need to wait you. You’ll have fascinating exchanges, until you feel a lack. Spiritual fullness and enrichment HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY and you’re an essential part of the experience for others. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You’re in the middle-person position and therefore tasked to translate and mitigate. What is an enone person thinks is hilarious will fall hancement of any cirHOLIDAY flat with the next. Consider your audi ence before you forward. cumstance or time of MATHIS VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). A friend minimizes the mistakes and maximizes life. the attributes and is generally on your

ARIES side. Such friends help you understand (March 21-April 19). You’ve made overwhat loyalty really looks like. generous gestures in the past and never LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). The way been sorry for them, though you’ll things are laid out will make a huge toss and turn at night if you think you difference in your efficiency and also in could have done more in the situation. the feeling you have about an experi

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Those ence. You’ll do much in the way of who are cut off from their own experiorganizing — an effort well spent. ences will be uncomfortable embracing SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Tension the full realm of experience, including is rigidity; relaxation is flexibility. A some that most others experience in very special relationship will thrive betheir day-to-day lives. Try to undercause you strike just the right balance stand instead of judge this. between these two states.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You’ve SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). still got a chance to go where the sun Vacations aren’t always tremendously is hot and the sunbathers are cool. Get relaxing. In these times, they aren’t even tremendously vacationing. Nonetheless, there’s a place in your mind where you can take a break. Find it; do it.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You’ll put in the extra effort to take good care of yourself. Since you know that lack of sleep or proper nourishment makes you cranky, you’ll be sure to plan to get both.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). The voice of inspiration is difficult to hear if your inner chatter is loud enough drown it. Exercise is the easiest and fastest way to quiet your mind.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You feel powerful but it’s not even the start of what you can become. Take charge of what you have control over and give no energy to the things outside of that.

ASTROLOGICAL QUESTION: “I’m a Taurus, and I don’t believe him half the time. He’s a Cancer. I don’t think he lies because he disrespects me; I think it’s because he’s trying to protect me from his nature, which is to do things that I will not, and do not, like and which, in fact, break my heart. What do you say about it?”

Your earthy instinct is spot-on, and it sounds as if you have compassion beyond even your substantial natal endowments. It isn’t necessary to buy all the way in to any story. You can still love him and challenge his facts, or at least realize that the way he sees it seems correct to him but might not hold up to other scrutiny. Stay wise and carry a kernel of distrust. Know that everyone has their own set of cognitive distortions that warp perception to the needs of psyche. An attitude of slight skepticism is the best chance you have at getting to a truth that is close enough — a truth you can live with.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: Gloria Estefan says this of a paralyzing bus accident 30-years ago: “My fans came to my rescue: I could feel people’s prayers like a physical energy – millions were sending me good thoughts and connecting in a way I felt as a physical presence, like electricity.” Estefan was born under a sun and Mercury in nurturing, healthy Virgo and Venus and Jupiter in loyal Libra. Her natal moon and Saturn are in spicy Sagittarius.

Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis. com.

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