Ever since bands like Pavement and Guided By Voices first
helped popularize a laissez-faire approach to recording and production values
in the early ’90s, popular music seems to have fully embraced the concept of
imperfection for its own sake. Early Pavement and GBV recordings — thin,
scratchy, often homemade affairs — were full of glaring “flaws” in the
playing and sound quality. Imperfection wasn’t merely tolerated but championed
as a stylistic focal point.
Nowadays, thanks to the proliferation of affordable home
recording gear, artists are encouraged to let it all hang out, to fly in the
face of conventionally sacramental notions like staying in tune, consistent
tempo, and taking time to develop material until it’s “ready.” A whole new
world of creative possibility is now fair game.
But rough edges still can’t replace genuine artistic vision.
Local duo Blue Spark and Flame — drummer Joey Pitts and
guitarist and principal songwriter Annalisa Morrison — first comes across
like a tumbling collision of sound. To focus on that, though, is to miss the
substance under the surface. Not only is it thrilling to listen to Morrison and
Pitts pull beauty out of the wreckage with stubborn assurance, but they also
reveal something fragile and create a language all their own in the process.
Morrison’s confessional lyrics offset her jangly, reverbed
guitar and Pitts’ rough-and-tumble drumming, placing Blue Spark and Flame
somewhere on the continuum between retro garage rock and, believe it or not,
folk. For content, Morrison mines the well-worn subject of romantic woe.
Without question, though, the dark sensuality that hovers over her songs
presents a bold, fresh perspective and establishes her as a new voice to be
reckoned with.
In lines like, “You got a rocket in your pocket and a razor
between your lips,” (which appears on the latest EP, Horrible Sounds Record), danger and attraction get tangled in that
chilling but irresistible way they do in real life more often than we care to
admit. Even within the permissive boundaries of music, this is an emotional
zone that few explore with such depth and courage, not to mention capacity.
Blue Spark’s vocal approach, however, helps prevent the
songs from dwelling in the morose. Most often, Morrison is joined by Pitts; one
sings while the other screams. Amazingly, they wring smooth, melodic harmonies
out of this combination. When they bellow, “why do you treat me so bad? / I am
the best that you had!” the anguish is palpable, but the vibe is not without
determination, dignity, and even fun. Throw in the band’s signature sparse,
haunted sonics and you get mood paintings, fleshed out with layers of emotional
nuance until they become three dimensional.
Despite heavy suggestions of possessiveness, for example,
there’s a hint of childlike, playful taunting when Morrison sings, “I gotta
know where you’re going / I gotta know where you’ll be tonight,” while, at the
same time, Pitts sings, “Are you going somewhere? / going somewhere? / going
somewhere tonight?” These lines are followed by the more overtly sinister
verse, “I got a neighbor / who’s been watching me late at night / watching me
in my sleep / he’s a creep / that’s what I like.”
Flamboyant and boisterous in person, Pitts and Morrison are
the first to tell you that they’re crazy. Nonetheless, over the course of a
rather revealing discussion, they expound fluently on topics like the
overwhelming, anxiety-inducing nature of creativity, depression and mental
illness (and why artists might be susceptible), ambition, and confidence. They
also discuss how the volatility in their own creative partnership both
frustrates and inspires them — all of this is underscored with candor and a
warm, inviting sense of humor.
Interestingly, when they both talk at the same time, they
don’t seem to clash or compete but sort of gel into one stream of thought
that’s noisy but seamless and discernable — just like their vocals.
Pitts, who usually speaks bluntly with a deadpan tone — as
if she’s the straight man and your laughter will necessarily follow every
statement she makes — sees the connection. Blue Spark’s interplay, she says,
“is just living for us.”
Around Pitts, Morrison assumes the responsible role.
Occasionally — and hilariously — she reaches over and covers Pitts’ mouth
at the mention of anything provocative.
“It’s been hard for me to give up control,” Morrison admits
more seriously, “but I feel like Joey adds another dimension that I wouldn’t
have on my own.”
Conflicts occur regularly, sometimes even on stage, which
does pose challenges. When the worst happens between them, the pair claims, the
energy works in favor of the music on the spot. Either way, even at its most
congenial, a Blue Spark and Flame show treads a fine line between alarmingly
messy and spirited, but the music usually regains its balance. The personal
dynamic does as well.
“If you care about somebody,” Pitts proposes, “you’ll let
them freak out and find a place in yourself to forgive them, let the waters
calm, and understand the frame of mind they could be in at that time.”
However they find a balance, it’s working. One Horrible Sounds tune contains a gleeful
shout: “It’s a train wreck!” Indeed, Morrison and Pitts do a bang-up job of
baring their souls with their power and guts intact.
For more info on Blue Spark and Flame or their latest
release, Horrible Sounds Record,
contact bluesparkandflame@yahoo.com. All BSAF cds are individually packaged by
hand using miscellaneous arts and crafts materials.
This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 1, 2005.
