From Tori to Tosha

I love, love, love music. But when I say music, I mean music in the sense of a "tune" rather than the composite product of music and lyrics. Because the truth is, I very seldom notice lyrics. I just don't hear them - even when I TRY, I still land up being caught up with the tune and "tuning out" the words :-) This explains, perhaps, my tortured respect for Lady Gaga (catchy tunes! but her lyrics are clear enough for even me to hear... so crass!)

And so, as a lover of a beautiful tune, I think that Tori Amos' "Scarlet's Walk" is probably been my favorite CD for several years. The music is sweepingly, breathtakingly beautiful. Complex and unexpected, yet uncluttered. And for years, I have listened to this CD and just hummed along joyfully as her music cascaded from the first to the last track.

But then two weeks ago, I took out the album cover and read some lyrics. Oh yikes. What a tortured soul she is, and sadly I can't go back now to the blissful ignorance before of just enjoying the tune. The content of the lyrics has filled out the music in a way that makes me so, so sad.

But oh! Musical serendipity! Imagine my lovely surprise when, this week, I was given a CD as a thank you gift. It's by Tosha Zwanziger, a local musician from Northern California... and as I put it on and heard the piano, her voice, and then a few tracks later - a cello - I kept thinking with joy "this will be my Tori replacement!" The first 3 or 4 tracks in particular, are just so lovely. I haven't read the lyrics yet, but I may wait a little while before doing that :-)