The blank space at an intersection of hope and despair

February 6, 2021 12:11 PM

The Weather Station, aka Tamara Lindeman, released their new album Ignorance yesterday. A mix of moody strings, dense rhythms, careful orchestration, and shimmering vocals, it is getting great reviews. The underlying theme is one of vulnerability and loss in both personal relationships and in our relationship with the planet, but with room left for hope in the unknown.

First video single Robber.

posted by blue shadows (13 comments total)

It's not the despair, Laura. I can stand the despair. It's the hope.

- John Cleese as Brian Stimpson in Clockwise
posted by fairmettle at 1:01 PM on February 6, 2021 [2 favorites]

I'm always down to check out someone who releases their music on Bandcamp. It's such a simple decision for them to make (contractual obligations to labels notwithstanding) but it seems to show business savvy and a respect for their audience that is very appealing.

She also sounds a lot like Paula Cole and that's pretty fantastic, too.
posted by ElKevbo at 1:33 PM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Giving it a spin - thanks for the suggestion
posted by zenon at 2:31 PM on February 6, 2021

Lotsa mid-late period Joni Mitchell vibe in Robber. Me like.
posted by tspae at 2:39 PM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Been a fan for about a decade now, and it's such a delight to see an artist achieve the momentum where a new release just pops off like this. So deserved.
posted by mykescipark at 2:44 PM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

What a coincidence. I was just listening to this album, thinking it deserves a post on the blue. Opened up Metafilter and there it was. I ordered the silver vinyl off Bandcamp. It's my favorite album of 2021 so far.
posted by sveskemus at 3:30 PM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

You had me at the drone lead in, complex themes, covers lot of thematic ground. This is the music we/the planet need now. There seem to ne several (to my narrow experience) musicians going back to a rawer sound, in nature, in the streets(our de-nature), a focused nascent anger, and yes hope but not happy saccharin.

"I write songs about things that exist."
posted by unearthed at 4:39 PM on February 6, 2021

I listened to her NPR interview today.

On 'Ignorance,' The Weather Station Compels You To Care. How a reckoning with the global climate crisis inspired Tamara Lindeman

Alas, unlike most of their interviews, there is no audio version posted, and the transcript on this link is way shorter than the actual interview.
posted by bz at 5:52 PM on February 6, 2021

OMG wow! Twelve years ago I stumbled across the full band Lindeman had at the ANZUS in Toronto. Could not believe how amazing they were and promptly devoured everything available at the time.

Really looking forward to this.
posted by northtwilight at 8:07 PM on February 6, 2021

“Robber” is my kind of music, but the video almost pissed me off enough to just give up on it.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:16 AM on February 7, 2021

The video made you angry?
posted by borges at 9:55 AM on February 7, 2021

Thanks for the recommendation, this was fantastic. Love that I was able to listen to the whole album for free. It was 100% worth the asking price of 9$ CAD for the download to stick on my media server too.
posted by signsofrain at 3:16 PM on February 7, 2021

I stumbled across a review of this album last week and started listening. I’d missed out on her previous albums, but this one’s phenomenal.

There’s something of early 80s AOR in there, in a very good way.
posted by Kattullus at 1:28 AM on February 8, 2021