»The Fine Line« takes one lyric, a song fragment or a small lyrical impulse to to discover a story, learn more about an artist, their song or music in general. We take a thought and try to understand its origin and meaning. Sometimes just one vague anecdote or association will be explored other times this small line can take us much further: to heights and depths that might be hiding entire, unexpected worlds. It’s a fine line.
»While you’re fucking some dusty old chair, I’ll be eating bananas and riding a big black stallion.« (EDDI FRONT)
A girl with a boy’s name. A boy’s name written in capitals. EDDI FRONT. The name signals girl gone brash, in-your-face and ruthless. Look past the name and a mournful piano will lead you to a black and white chanteuse with a somber, espresso stained voice. Her soul carries imprints of booze soaked speak-easy nights and lonely rides through purple-shadowed Americana landscapes.
EDDI FRONT’s song building and recording skills are pure and stripped to a bare minimum: a haunting piano, perhaps a lazy acoustic guitar and FRONT’S foggy voice. That’s it. The lyrics on the other hand come at you full force. Sometimes filthy they snap you out of what could have become a lullaby. Her voice, pure and old, and her lyrics, stubborn and current, create a distinctive contradiction. While the piano and voice have painted a black and white scene her lyrics suddenly whip a splash of color across the soundscape. »I’ll be eating bananas…« adds a cartoonish, bold yellow. »While you’re fucking some dusty old chair…« – paints hues of brown, gold and beige. EDDI FRONT tip-toes along the borders of being aggressive precariously but as her songs conclude she remains heartbroken instead. Heartbroken though not helpless; she’s forced herself to dry her little tears, fix her mascara and deliver a comical, colorful »Fuck you« through her now useless bride’s veil.
Peter Schjeldahl’s, the American art critic and poet, thoughts on colour can be applied here: »Black and white can show what something is. Colour adds how it is, imbued with the temperatures and humidities of experience.«
