The beginning of a Minnesota Winter is one of the most depressing times of the year for me – a painful draining of every green and happy thing from the land while all the empty spaces are filled with long-lasting bitterness and grey. So it is kind of fitting that Northfield singer/songwriter Meredith Fierke picked the current climate to release her debut album, The Procession. The record contains all the lighthearted cheer of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl, the tale of a homeless child freezing to death. However, just as Andersen’s eponymous corpse dies with a smile on her face, Procession too manages to find some warmth and beauty in what appears to be a very cold world.

Catapulting Fierke’s music above the standard woe-is-me alt country fare is her vivid impressionistic songwriting that isn’t so much lyrical as it is a collection of images. Songs like “Sad Horse’s Bones” or “Backyard” don’t contain any sort of linearity to them, but rather affect the listener with the symbolism of emaciation and graves respectively (y’know, happy stuff!). Though the folk/country tradition that Fierke uses as a vehicle for her angst is customarily a storytelling one, it’s a refreshing change of pace to be able to interpret the lyrics for oneself rather than being hit over the head with them.

Of course all of this would be for naught if Fierke didn’t also have a good set of pipes. Luckily she’s been blessed: her voice is a rich husky alto, a combination of both Sarah Mclachlan’s mature Pop as well as Gillian Welch’s Rootsy sensibility. On Procession it is complimented well by a studio band that contains Twin Cities’ stalwart Chris Koza’s guitar noodling. The band occasionally even throws in a little synthesizer, as on title track “The Procession,” which could come off as a bit strange on an alt/country album, but is pulled off effectively here. Standout tracks from the record include the sorrowful “Train’s Song,” as well as “Make it Real,” a darkly gothic country jam.

I am confident that Meredith Fierke has a bright future in the Twin Cities’ music scene. My only fear is that the obvious maturity and sophistication of her music will lead her to be adopted by the “MPR community,” which would effectively distance her from the local scene and relegate her to playing only the occasional show. Of course this would probably be great for her career, so I am probably just being selfish (and ageist?). Regardless, Fierke is officially releasing The Procession on January 2nd at the 400 Bar and I strongly recommend that you go check it out.

Meredith Fierke “Train’s Song” (mp3)
Meredith Fierke “Make You Real” (mp3)

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