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Listening To: Rebecca Angel - Fantasy Escape
Written by Pacdan
Listening to the first track of this album, I was already dismissing it as another generic pop folk album. You see, Fantasy Escape violates my first rule of music production: Always start with one of your best songs. Always! No exceptions to this one. You see, the first track - Reality of You - is one of only two weak tracks on the album, but having that one lousy (it’s actually not too bad, just not nearly as good as most of the rest) could completely lose the average listener. Fortunately, I have an obligation to listen to the entire album before passing judgement - otherwise I might very well have missed out on one of the best albums I’ve heard any time recently. After mediocre, overly twangy opener comes a series of brilliant guitar-based tracks which seem to do everything right. I love her lyrics, they’re nothing short of incredible. She first started writing the songs while working on a fantasy novel and it definitely shows - dealing with dreams, escapism, and still believing in fairy tales, among other things. The guitar and voice combination immediately brings to mind Ani DiFranco, although not nearly as harsh in voice or guitar playing style. Her voice is a bit floaty, but pleasant enough. The sixth track, The World Is Gone, comes in with about the last thing I would have expected - a piano ballad. In addition to being a great change of pace for the album, it’s a very nice track in itself. After that comes another three brilliant guitar based tracks leading up to Matthew’s Mind, a very Tori Amos sounding track (and I mean that as a compliment). While the rest of the album basically goes through the same basic cycles of guitar and piano based tracks, with the exception of the upbeat and percussion heavy Evil Eye which sounds just a bit out of place and is my personal least favorite track from the album, but never once sounds repetitive or recycled. The album ends with on a humorous note with Tinkerbell a song about trying to find what will make one man all powerful (keep wishing, have a good sense of humor, and don’t forget to write your thank you notes, for the record 
). I love just how Fantasy Escape feels very personal without being like someone else trying to drop their problems on you. It’s enthralling, uplifting, and just generally enjoyable music. Highly recommended for fans of Joni Mitchell and Ani DiFranco, and anyone who’s curious can check out samples on her MySpace.
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