Dement, Iris / Trackless Woods, The
Album: Trackless Woods, The   Collection:Country
Artist:Dement, Iris   Added:Nov 2015
Label:Flariella Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2015-11-15 Pull Date: 2016-01-17 Charts: Country/Bluegrass
Week Ending: Jan 3 Dec 27 Dec 6 Nov 29
Airplays: 1 1 2 1

Recent Airplay
1. Nov 29, 2021: Traditions (rebroadcast from Nov 12, 2021)
Song About Songs
4. Jan 25, 2018: Melange
The Souls Of All My Dears
2. Nov 12, 2021: Traditions
Song About Songs
5. Nov 02, 2017: Melange
The Souls Of All My Dears
3. Oct 23, 2021: Music Casserole (rebroadcast from Dec 20, 2015)
All Is Sold
6. Oct 06, 2016: Melange
The Souls Of All My Dears

Album Review
Margy Kahn
Reviewed 2015-11-11
Country singer-songwriter Iris DeMent channels the great Soviet dissident poet Anna Akhmatova (translated by Babette Deutch). Adopting a Russian daughter triggered DeMent's interest in Akhmatova. But when you hear the emotion behind the lyrics and the hymn-like quality of the melodies you realize that DeMent has found another avenue for the intense spiritualism that underlies her art. This is deep stuff that needs to be listened to carefully to fully appreciate. But the melodies, DeMent's voice and piano accompaniment are beautiful even on a superficial level. Accompanying band for some tracks includes Leo Kottke.

Recommended tracks: 2, 9, 12, 16, 17

1- To My Poems -1:15 – an invocation about why the poet wrote what and as she did

*2- Broad Gold –3:28 – powerful and moving

3--And This You Call Work –3:23 – on writing poetry and its relation to music

4- From the Oriental Notebook -5:23- memories of a lover, high soprano voice, background wind noise; nightsounds

5- Prayer – 1:31 – impassioned voice and piano

6-Not with Deserters –3:41 – Akhmatova separates herself from those who chose exile, as she did not

7-All Is Sold –4:08- “All is lost/All is sold/All is plundered,” how she feels about her homeland

8-Reject the Burden – 3:04- giving up on ordinary human needs

*9-From An Airplane – 2:46 – honky-tonk sound to describe an airplane ride by someone born in in the 1800's seeing Russia from above as a whole; “it is my soul/it is my body too”

10-Oh, How Good – 3:07 – hymn to beauty of the land

11-Like A White Stone – 3:43 – the crucible of pain transformed

*12-Song About Songs – 3:36--”others will reap our only soul”; hymn-like

*13-Listening to Singing –2:36 – upbeat; lively; hymn of praise

*14—Lot's Wife – 4:36 – she wants to look back, “pain was her master”

15-Upon the Hard Crest – 1:46 –waltz rhythm, hymn-like

*16—The Souls of All My Dears –4:46 --”have gone to stars,” memorials of her losses under Stalin; evocative auto-harp-like chords; “your face up against the frosted pane”; “thank God there's no one left for me to lose.”

*17-The Last Toast –1:17 – “I drink to the heavens already destroyed”

18-Not With a Lover's Lyre/Anna Akhmatova's reading “The Muse” –3:40 – the song of a lover 's voice in her head followed by Akhmatova reciting her poem in Russian

Track Listing
1. To My Poems   10. Oh, How Good
2. Broad Gold   11. Like A White Stone
3. And This You Call Work   12. Song About Songs
4. From The Oriental Notebook   13. Listening To Singing
5. Prayer   14. Lot's Wife
6. Not With Deserters   15. Upon The Hard Crest
7. All Is Sold   16. The Souls Of All My Dears
8. Reject The Burden   17. The Last Toast
9. From An Airplane   18. Not With A Lover's Lyre/Anna Akhmatova's Reading ?The Muse?