Slappnar av efter trevande start

Edith Frost kommer ursprungligen från San Antonio och har spelat country och rockabilly i åtskilliga band. Nu bor hon i Chicago och har släppt tre ganska fantastiska album på likaledes Chicago-baserade bolaget Drag City, annars mest känt för experimentell indierock. Hon lockades dit för att hon gillade Will Oldhams skivor och ägnar sig precis som han åt ett personligt färgat möte mellan singer-songwriterpop och uråldrig country, även om Frosts variant inte är alls lika skev och jämrande.

Fansen finns på plats

Hennes sånger är enkla och avskalade och rösten ljus, texterna ofta djupt blå men på samma gång varmt omhändertagande.

Inför den alltför blygsamma publiken på Debaser är hon till en början trevande och nervös, men märker att det finns fans på plats och slappnar av.

Och även om det i de mest stillsamma stunderna känns lite tunt med bara Frost på elgitarr och kompisen Ryan Hembrey på bas bygger hon utsökta stämningar i mer drivna nummer som "Calling over time" och "Further".

Hon lovar dock att återvända med band nästa år. Värt att se fram emot.

Fotnot: Edith Frost spelar på Mejeriet i Lund i kväll och Pusterviksbaren i Göteborg på lördag.
    Håkan Steen
    Foto: LARS SJÖGREN

Edith Frost
Friday, April 26 @ Kilby Court, 741 S. 330 West, 320-9887, 8:30 p.m.

First off, no relation, OK? Edith Frost is a Texan via New York City and now Chicago, where she recorded Wonder Wonder (Drag City), a beautifully not-quite-country album that combines cowgirl longing and urban lust with stunning results — think Patsy Cline sharing a Lucky Strike with Liz Phair, among others. "I like it when people compare me to freaks like Syd Barrett," she says. "There are a lot of elements I want to put into my music that can’t be summed up by saying ‘country.’"

Edith Frost gives new hope for those seeking that kind of introspective, country-tinged singer-songwriter stuff but who’re bored to tears with the way it sounds. Over the course of a few generally excellent Drag City albums, Frost has taken the form and given it goose, working with your all-stars of the post-rock scene including Royal Trux, Gastr del Sol, Eleventh Dream Day and High Llamas, and with producer* Steve Albini on the recent WONDER WONDER. A singer of subtly ironic affect, Frost skews her downbeatish songs with unusual chord progressions and idiosyncratic instrumental touches like subdued keyboard shards or her favored jaunty clarinets, which lends an inviting ambiguity to the jaded tone she uses to convey her rather personal heartbreak stories.

April 19 – Friday
Frost Bite
If you’re a fan of laid-back, melancholic country-style folk music, Chicago-based singer-songwriter Edith Frost is the gal for you. Sounding somewhat like indie vocalist Liz Phair, Frost — a devoted collector of cowgirl memorabilia — writes songs, most in a minor key, that examine love, especially disappointment in love. The gentle vocal phrasings on her third album, last year’s Wonder Wonder (Drag City), belie the frequent bitterness in her songs. In "Further" she sings, "Further down the ladder my brave fireman reaches out, he’s gonna drop me down and leave me further behind." Local indie trio the Court and Spark, Chicago band Central Falls, and Olympia’s Sarah Dougher also play.
9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $10. (415) 621-4455.

Though Edith Frost is now technically a Yankee (she moved from her native Texas to Brooklyn and then Chicago), the altcountry crooner still whips up folksy ballads that reflect her hometown roots. Her third full-length, Wonder Wonder, released last July, lives up to the promise of its title. Frost is characteristically melancholy, but this time around she lightens up considerably, penning quirky tracks that are occasionally downright playful. A talented singer/songwriter, Frost has always been open to experimentation. On Wonder, she tinkers with bells, violin, chimes, pedal-steel guitar, and harmonica, and the gamble pays off: These instruments form the perfect counterpoints to her expressive, brooding voice. Frequently compared to Patsy Cline, Frost bares all without shame, and in the process makes heartbreak sound so appealing that you’ll be tempted to pick a fight with your lover just to have a taste of what she’s going through. Fellow Windy City band Central Falls opens for Edith Frost at the Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St. (at Missouri), S.F. Sarah Dougher and the Court and Spark are also on the bill. Admission is $10; call 621-4455 or go to www.bottomofthehill.com.

Wednesday 4/17
Edith Frost, Carissa’s Wierd, Central Falls
(Graceland) Edith Frost’s debut, Calling Over Time, showcased her cool, clear take on Americana shaded with minor-key melodies reminiscent of an earthier mid-’70s Joni Mitchell. Its follow-up, Telescopic, was an atmospheric affair that displayed a bleary, introverted psychedelia similar to Syd Barrett and Skip Spence. With Wonder Wonder, Frost finds the balancing act between the sounds of those albums, more in league with her 1999 single Love Is Real. The dozen songs are subtly powerful, implying emotional depth rather than spelling it out. In person, Frost’s gossamer voice retains its otherworldliness; it’s alt-country from an alternate universe. She creates her own atmosphere with a sonic palette of skeletal arrangements that are the perfect bed for torchy balladeering.

April 12: Edith Frost w/ Central Falls
Café Montmartre, 9 p.m., $8
Much like Canadian singer Julie Doiron, Edith Frost coaxes beauty from sadness and longing. Although Frost’s music is often pegged as alt-country, her songs rarely muster up enough energy or twang to warrant the tag. She played with bar bands in her native Texas for years,* but didn’t find her true voice until she discovered Chicago’s underground-rock scene. Last year’s Wonder Wonder benefits greatly from those around her: Archer Prewitt and members of Wilco and Eleventh Dream Day help lay the foundation for Frost’s lovely, world-weary songs. Adam Vida, leader of opening act Central Falls, moonlights as the drummer for the insanely spastic No Wave band U.S. Maple. But Central Falls is everything Vida’s other gig isn’t: languid, pretty, tuneful, dreamy, and so on. Its new album is Latitude.

Edith Frost  With the exception of the time Johnny Cash showed his affection for Trent Reznor by covering a Nine Inch Nails song, Edith Frost has been central to the strangest musical marriages in all of folkdom. Her first album Calling Over Time signed up experimentalists Gastr del Sol to back her on twisted Palace-like songs. With the Drag City Supersession group, she made Smog’s nihilist Bill Callahan sound almost cheerful. And her latest Wonder Wonder (Drag City) finds Frost doing her best Liz Phair over Gillian Welch-like traditionals that tug at your fiddle strings. Thank god she’s a country girl. With Central Falls and Jackaro. 21+. $8. 9:00 p.m. 400 Bar, 400 Cedar Ave. S. (at Riverside Ave.), Minneapolis; 612.332.2903.

Edith Frost, Central Falls, Sarah Dougher
The credits on Edith Frost’s albums read like a Who’s Who of indie rock: contributors include the Sea & Cake’s Archer Prewitt, Gastr del Sol’s Jim O’Rourke and Rick Rizzo of Eleventh Dream Day, among others. Steve Albini even produced* her latest CD, Wonder Wonder. Yet despite such enviable affiliations and a spot on the roster of hip Chicago label Drag City, Frost’s music lacks any cooler-than-thou pretense. She calls on her Texas roots to lend a loping cadence and occasional twang to minor-key melodies, her voice alternating between a subtly country swagger and a ghostly, childlike whisper awash in delicate harmonies. Even if she rolls into town with no renowned labelmates in tow, Frost — armed with an acoustic guitar and a wounded heart — is plenty captivating all by her lonesome.

Edith Frost, with Central Falls
Wednesday, April 17 at Graceland, 8pm, 21+
The weather outside is becoming warmer, and the flowers will soon be blooming. Ah, spring, a time for frolicking, and being light and listening to happy music. One show that will definitely have heavy Springtime vibes will be Edith Frost at Graceland on April 17. Frost has that sort of indy-rock meets country feel, like Aimee Mann or even Kristen Hirsh. She is touring in support of her third album, Wonder Wonder, a record that was engineered by Steve Albini, and has been called "ambitious" and "strong" by critics. The songs from this album, along with many from her previous three, should make for a night of fun and springtime giddiness. Opening for Edith will be Central Falls, another band from Chicago, who have been described as "Acetone with twang." This show is the perfect event for this time of year, so dance around the puddles as you head on down to Graceland and get your life set for Spring!

Starts out all innocent and folky, building in intensity until the sweetness is cloaked in a medieval creepiness and starts sounding like the voices in a madwoman’s head. Ambling tunes reveal complex structures and compelling lyrics, with rather gorgeous results.

"Calling over Time," Edith Frost (Calling Over Time):
"Now you are in paradise…." This haunting campfire lament sounds eerily like a suicide bomber’s widow testifying to faith against hope. "Loving hand turns burning sand to water."

Forget pop stars and grab a helping of this woman’s pop gems.  Add a hint of country twang, some strings, and some help from Chicago’s most esteemed indie stars and you’ve got the makings of greatness.