I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
-“The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, W.B. Yeats, 1893
Lyrics to Claire Holley’s “Innisfree”, 2008
I suppose I was bound to be won over by any performer who takes Yeats as her inspiration. The legendary poet’s work – timeless, symbolic and mystical – has resonated with me since I was first exposed to it in a college composition class. None of Yeats’ writing more clearly exemplifies his recurring theme of alienation in the modern world and ever-present longing for peace through solitude than “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” It clearly resonated with Claire Holley as well. “Innisfree”, the second track on her just-released album Hush, serves as a reminder that, sometimes, excellence in artistic expression is born of the simplest of ideas – like putting a beloved old poem to music. But there’s much more to admire about Claire Holley than her appreciation of, and homage to, the great Irish poet.
Calling Los Angeles home these days, Holley lives a long way from her native Mississippi. The South still clearly flows through her veins, though, and it comes through in her music. She has a beautiful, mesmerizing voice – one that soars and then quiets to a hush in the same measure. She sings with effortless emotion, bringing to mind the likes of Edie Brickell, Norah Jones and Neko Case, and there’s a clarity and a simplicity to her vocals that captures you and doesn’t let you go until she’s good and ready. She has an excellent sense of timing as well, subtly quickening or slowing the cadence in unexpected ways that make the experience all the more interesting.
Holley’s lyrics are sparer than Neko Case’s, without the latter’s involved story-telling. But this is definitely a case of less being more. Her lyrics are an impressionist painting. She gives you just enough and not a single syllable more than what you need to capture the emotional essence of a time, a place, a relationship. Then she lingers and lets it sink in – “one little picture I have saved, one little picture I have saved of my wedding day.” Love, peace, solitude, melancholy – she captures it all.
There were maybe ten in attendance Wednesday night as Holley made her Little Rock debut at Sticky Fingerz. This is getting to be a troubling trend in Little Rock as more and more great acts come through the city only to be greeted by a few fortunate souls. She didn’t seem to let it disappoint, though, as she smiled and sung her way through song after satisfying song, stopping occasionally to talk and tell stories to the appreciative audience. When it was all over, she hung around to autograph copies of her new CD. Then it was off to Russellville for a video shoot Thursday and a Fayetteville performance Thursday night.
I’m glad that I got to experience a Claire Holley performance. And I’m sorry – very sorry – that you didn’t. Peace.
-G
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