Music Review: Annie Dressner-Strangers Who Knew Each Other's Names

Article first published as Music Review: Annie Dressner - Strangers Who Knew Each Other's Names on Blogcritics.

Vulnerability, fragility and innocence are the first impressions you get from singer/song writer Annie Dressner's debut CD. They are impressions embedded in the youthful sound of her voice. They are impressions evoked by the plaintive sweetness of her melodies. And as often as not they jump out from the passionate conversational awkwardness of much of her lyrics. There are eleven songs on the album, and but for one or two they all have the feel of very personal expressions. There are those artists who create voices not their own to speak for them, personae; there are those artists who speak sincerely in their own voice. Then there are those that manage to give the appearance of sincerity whether they really are or not. I don’t know for sure which of these categories Dressner fits into, but if she isn't in the second, she's done a hell of a job convincing this listener.

"Fly," the album's opening song, is an upbeat expression of the need to spread your wings and fly in spite of the fear of falling. Of course, implicit in the metaphor of flying and falling is falling in love; you need to make the effort even if there is always the danger of failing. "Find Me" is another upbeat proclamation of the need to "climb that mountaintop" and commit to life and love. Songs like "Cigarette," "When I See Stars," and the haunting "Come Back" are mournful looks at lost love perfectly suited to Dressner's vulnerable mask. In a note on "How Am I Supposed to Be?", Dressner describes the personal nature of the song and how she uses her music to deal with her emotions, in this case a "very personal loss." "I'll look for you in me;" is her lyrical attempt to "try to find a closeness to someone" she'd lost.

Perhaps the one exception to the personal subjective character of her songs is "Hardy Boys," a song Dressner points out is not about the young adult book series, but about a friend's band with the same name. She explains that she met the members of the band and was invited to join them on a tour they were going on to Canada, but she thought better of it and didn't go. Although even here the song seems to stem from a personal experience, the difference is in the emotional stakes.

The album's title song, "Strangers Who Knew Each Other's Names" is, she says, "a love song of sorts." It deals with what she feels is a universal experience of meeting someone face to face for the first time and feeling an instant kinship, feeling as though you've known each other for ages. Again, the impetus for the song is personal experience. She was friends with someone on Facebook whom she had met in the past but really didn't know very well, and then when they ran into each other, they were indeed strangers who knew each other's names.

Joining Dressner on the CD is Anthony Rizzo on electric and acoustic guitar, Dan Kendall on bass, Paul Goodwin, keys and mandolin, Kevin Hudson on drums and Chris Fisher-Lochhead on viola. Steph Allen and Theresa Hoffmann do backing vocals on a couple of tracks, but Dressner does her own backing on most of the songs.

Strangers Who Knew Each Other's Names is an auspicious debut for a promising artist. It is a collection of songs that shine with honest emotion and haunting melodies.