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edith frost: shivers down your spine
Born of some holy communion between singer-songwriter psychedelia and spooky country blues, Edith Frost’s songs stir up serious longings. And Bob Pomeroy responds

On "Calling Over Time," the title track of her first album, Edith Frost sings a kind of epilogue to the chorus that repeats the phrase "loving hands turn burning sand to water." The notes she sings tumble down a minor scale on a prolonged fall from the upper reaches of the thin, narcotic atmosphere that the song, as a whole, generates. (In fact, the entire record, except for one or two more wide-awake numbers, flows like a dream.)

An Early Frost

Edith Frost approaches roots music in a conscious, educated way. Though such an approach can sometimes lead to stagy, patronizing disasters, Frost resembles fellow country/folk troubadour Gillian Welch in coming at her late-found love with an affection so open and humble that it precludes condescension. And even though Frost’s self-released EP of last year¹ and her full-length album Calling Over Time were released on Chicago’s ultra-hip indie label Drag City, she seems embarrassed by the notion of being part of some "hip" scene. She’s just a 33-year old working gal in Chicago, thrilled to get her first $3000 royalty check from Drag City and trying to figure out how to buy a vehicle so she can go on the road more. "Last May was the first time I played in a town I didn’t live in," she explains.

Gentle Frost

After sending unsolicited demo tapes to a handful of record labels a couple of years ago, Edith Frost found herself in a strange situation. A novice songwriter, she attracted the attention of two respected labels that couldn’t have been more different: Austin’s forward-looking roots-rock Dejadisc imprint and Chicago’s indie-rock experimentalist outlet Drag City. On a gut instinct she chose the latter, but openly wonders about what might have transpired with the former. "I don’t know how it would’ve turned out," Frost says, "but I’m sure the recordings would’ve been slicker and I probably would’ve moved home to Austin instead of to Chicago." Between her eponymous four-song debut, which Drag City released this summer, and her full album, already recorded and due next April, it’s clear Frost would have done well either way: the shy 30-year-old Texan might be the most distinctive and gifted singer-songwriter to surface in the last year or two.