Tuesday, September 27, 2011

John Oswald: 'Pretender' (Dolly Parton)

First sounds are like a reel of tape slipping and falling into a very echoey cavern. A chipmunk sounding Dolly Parton breaks through the noise and after a few words is at the speed we can recognize her voice. She sings over organ sounds. She's lonely but no one can tell. I don't notice the tape gradually slowing down at first but it becomes apparent when Dolly's high pitched voice starts to sounds like it belongs to a man. It continues to grow slower and slower and the question of her real gender arrises? Then with a last attempt she speeds up and I find myself back in a concert hall somewhere in Nashville. I had no idea there were so many sides to Ms. Parton. How was this track originally recorded?

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