Other Music review
Tuesday July 17, 2001 – 6:00 pmA lovely review by "TH" that appeared in the Other Music mailing list and website. Can’t remember the exact date but it was right around the time Wonder Wonder was released.
It is with great anticipation that one looks forward to a new Edith Frost record. Like Barbara Manning, Frost hardly releases a record every other month, and thus her albums have a careful, thoughtful quality about them. When Drag City released her aching, desolate Telescopic, its production values attracted an entirely new group of fans, those who were already listening to Bill Callahan (Smog) and Cat Power. But her new record stands alone, separating her once again from her ostensible peers (has she _any_ at this point?).
Wonder Wonder, produced by Rian Murphy, points, quite subtly, in a country direction. But alt-country fans beware; you won’t find an excess of steel guitar or ‘new country’ conceits here. Rather, she sounds like a contemporary Phoebe Snow, writing songs of regret and isolation that sit well beside more optimistic numbers. In other words, there is more than a glimpse of redemption here though it is always tempered by an honesty that doesn’t flinch in the face of romantic defeat. Her songs are sometimes difficult, not always keeping time, and perhaps that is what makes this record so compelling. You’d love to sing along or hum one of the songs on "Wonder Wonder", but the unexpected twists and turns prevent that.






