haunted

poe

atlantic, 2000

Mood—Spooky & sad, glorious & outspoken.

Sample: "Walk The Walk"

Thoughts— This was an album I couldn't wait to get. I'd been a fan of Poe since my first year of college (first learning of her from a mixtape a friend made), and it took another four years for her next album to come out. In the meantime I got to see her in concert once, which was a great experience.

Haunted has some catchy, intense tracks, but they are interwoven with creepy ambient interludes, sampled tapes of Poe's late father, answerphone messages to her mother, and snippets of dialogue from her daughter. This is really a hybrid album, radio-friendly music mixed in with dense, personal concepts.

The album has a ton of groove, but its strongest point is how the songs are woven together by these lonely conceptual elements. They are a sort of goodbye letter to/from her father and are quite moving. They serve as an anchor, bringing you back to an eerie stillness after each song.

The songs themselves are the type that actually make me want to move. They're great for driving. "Terrible Thought" feels the most like a song from Poe's debut album, the same sort of low-key, bass-driven instrumentation coupled with an easy-going melody. "Spanish Doll" is sad and sweet. "Not A Virgin" is a rather complex song; it's hard to tell whether her feminist confidence is genuinely unabashed or if it is tinged with a sense of regret... I think this confusion might be the point.

One thing that I really love about Haunted is that it touches on electronic music styles and processes, but not heavily. Every now and then, Poe's vocals will get looped and sampled in some way that tweaks your attention. "Wild", a nine-minute track in the middle of the album, deconstructs halfway through, turning something akin to a club track for a minute or so. It's really quite interesting.

This is definitely an album that should be listened to from start to finish, as it tells a story. Each track blends into the next, and it's worth it to listn to everything in order. By the end, the messages from her father become part a heartbreaking dialogue in "If Your Were Here", and it's not quite as moving if you haven't been following along from the start.

Recommended? I'd say so.

Link—n/a

Tracklist
1. Exploration B
2. Haunted
3. Control
4. Terrible Thought
5. Walk The Walk
6. Terrified Heart
7. Wild
8. 5 1/2 Minute Hallway
9. Not A Virgin
10. Hey Pretty
11. Dear Johnny
12. Could've Gone Mad
13. Lemon Meringue
14. Sapnish Doll
15. House Of Leaves
16. Amazed
17. If You Were Here