Cool Country Air: Chicago invigorates Edith Frost’s spare, moody music

Edith Frost isn’t feeling her best.  Nobly, she engages me in charming discourse for an hour, despite the cold she’s recovering from.  She shouldn’t be smoking, either, but that doesn’t keep her from indulging in a few cigarettes as we chat.

Outside her boyfriend’s Chicago apartment, it’s a typical subzero blustery winter day.

"I have to go to a recording session this afternoon.  I’m not looking forward to shoveling out my van," Frost says.  "And then once I do get it out, I’ll have to figure out a way to keep my parking space."

Such are the joys of daily life in a densely populated urban city.  But don’t expect Frost to complain about her adopted hometown.  It’s been good to the 34-year-old singer-songwriter, providing her with an active support base of kindred spirits and fellow musicians unheard of in most musical hot spots.

Edith Frost with Lullaby for the Working Class WHEN: 10 p.m. Thursday. WHERE: Stinkweeds Record Exchange 1250 E. Apache Blvd. in Tempe. 968-9490. TICKETS: $5 all ages. WEBSITE: edithfrost.com

"Chicago is the best place I’ve found to be a working musician.  It’s so much easier here than, say, Brooklyn, where I lived for seven years," Frost says.  "People in Chicago seem to have more time and energy to devote to friendships and relationships with other musicians, working together and supporting that.  This is the best place for me to be."

For Frost, it all started with a home-recorded demo tape and a cover letter she sent to the highly regarded independent label Drag City (also in Chicago) in 1996.  On the strength of the songs, the label contacted her eight months or so later about releasing it, resulting in the eponymously titled EP, Edith Frost.

The critical reception was good, with writers comparing Frost’s moody, spare, country-tinged songs to such artists as Patsy Cline, Liz Phair, Mazzy Star and Nick Drake.

Calling Over Time, Frost’s 1997 debut album, showcased an artist who was willing to experiment and play with musicians of different backgrounds.  Producer Rian Murphy enlisted the services of players like Jim O’Rourke (Gastr Del Sol), David Grubbs (Gastr Del Sol, Bastro, Squirrelbait), Sean O’Hagan (Stereolab, The High Llamas) and Rick Rizzo (Eleventh Dream Day), adding a rich patina of color to Frost’s tales of self-doubt, longing and heartbreak, while keeping a sense of cool restraint and ghostly atmosphere to the mix.

Telescopic, Frost’s latest album, is a horse of a different color by comparison.  Frost found out early into the recording sessions that producers Adam and Eve (a k a Royal Trux’s Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema) had a different way of doing things.

"He had all the demo versions for whatever I had in mind up to that point," Frost explains.  "He almost deconstructed them.  We recorded things part by part, and he had different ideas for each of them.

"I love it," Frost says of the final product.  "I think it sounds so amazing.  I play kinda sloppy, so some of these songs have a loose feel to them.  But we worked with that until it became another weird, cool asset."