Sibylle Baier Reconsidered

I’ve violated the cardinal rule of making a strong argument for my point of view.

I failed to present any fact (or even opinion) to support a statement. When I wrote in my recent post that Sibylle Baier’s Colour Green album was a bad, boring record that goes nowhere and says nothing, I offered nothing to back it up. It may well be a bad, boring, aimless record but how valid can a statement be without appropriate support? I have insulted you, dear reader, and endeavor to make amends for my error.

So, let’s reconsider Colour Green. If I understand the facts correctly, Baier wrote and recorded this album as a young woman, while living and working as an actress in France. When she became a mother, she abandoned music and acting for a domestic life in the US, leaving this record unreleased. Her son, who appears in this somewhat pixelated picture with her, has since seen to its release.

So what about it?

First, it is not a bad record. From a production standpoint, there’s a bit of noise but this is inherent in home recordings of this era. Otherwise, it’s sonically clear and crisp and very listenable. Musically, Baier’s voice is strong, her guitar playing sufficient and her mastery of the craft notable. There have been many bad records made in our time but this is not one of them.

It’s also not a record without something to say. There are fears and sorrows, tastes and sights, movements and travels, colors and textures in her music. There are deep browns and greens, ripe fruits and aged spirits, sallow moons and lost friends. So, it’s not a record with nothing to say.

But, I have to stand by my statement that this record goes nowhere. Lyrically, it seems to trod over the very same themes from song to song. Baier’s voice seldom strays out of a very small range. Most songs stay in the same key and tempo; most of her guitar playing revolves around the same finger-picking rhythm.

Maybe that’s the point; maybe it’s intended to me an aimless stroll through the French countryside. But, even a stroll includes different sounds and tempos: birds singing, leaves crunching, stones shifting. Music has to transport the listener someplace he can’t get on my own. If it doesn’t, then what’s the point? I may be the exception but Colour Green doesn’t transport me anywhere.

Does this make it a boring album? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly there are some songs on the album that are truly captivating (Tonight, William) and a few that try to be jaunty (Softly, Wim). And Give Me A Smile is truly beautiful. The problem is that if my computer hadn’t reordered the songs according to it’s own whim, I might never had made far enough to hear it.

I recommend you listen to these songs and enjoy them. But, as a way to spend a precious 30 minutes with music, there are others far more inspiring.

Sibylle Baier – Tonight

Sibylle Baier – Wim

Sibylle Baier – Give Me A Smile

Kudos to Bruce and IB for their delicately stated disagreement with my initial review