Agnes and Hilda
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Patricia Taxxon, fellow musician and dog, released Agnes and Hilda in 2020, and my perception of what music can be was forever changed when I listened to it a few years later. It is an album where I can say that all the individual songs come together to form a piece of art which is so much greater than its components. Not to say that the individual songs aren’t up to par at all. In fact this is one of the few albums I would consider to lack any weak songs, none I’d skip when listening through the album again. Each of the songs, from the titular “Agnes and Hilda”, to the final “Like” interrogate some portion of the creative experience, weather it be the fleshing out of characters, the channeling of emotions, or the creation of a narrative, there is a clear thematic throughline through each of the songs, all of which would stand alone as fantastic listening experiences. This theme, well put in the Youtube video’s description, is the joy of creation, its process, and the joy of the artist themselves. "Agnes and Hilda" (the song, rather than the album) introduces the two characters, before the singer remarks on how they feel like one or the other at certain points. To me this is the process of turning aspects of your own personality into characters in a story, even the aspects you aspire to, as the lyrics specifically state “some days I&m agnes, but just as often I would rather be Hilda&. But to examine the lyrical content of this album as such seems to miss the point, as the vibes that they create are much more important, The sum of its parts, afterall. To add narrative to the character, “Overijssel” depicts the thought process of a murderer as they try to desperately evade police to bury the body of their wife. again, that is what literally happens, but the vibes of the song put you in the passanger seat as an unfortunate hitchhiker, or their unwitting cell-mate. the wild anecdotes of who thier wife was, ore what the singer plans to do. the delivery of the line "600 long kilometers from Zwole to the border!" and "Don’t draw any attention to the carpet-covered figure in the back It’s the wood I’ve yet to stack It’s a whore I had to crack" is perfectly delivered to communicate the desperate mindset of the narrator in their rush to evade the police. I like to think that, as these characters are unnamed, they are Agnes and Hilda, However, I get a strong sense this was not the author’s intent… But what if… Would it be Agnes or Hilda who took the shot? What drove them to such lengths? Assuming they are American, like Patricia herself, why did one of them wait until a holiday in the Netherlands, instead of a national park? Back on track, the vocal deliveries throughout the album are phenomenal as well, only aided by both collaborative artists and effects, to tune the singing like a guitar would use effect pedals. the story telling isn't consistent through the album, as that simply isn't the aim of all the songs. A lot of the songs focus on the emotional content, with "Overijssel" being the exception. The second song in the album “Bocce” is an outlier, however. Not directly talking about art, or its creation, but rather the life of the artist themselves, as it depicts a casual game suddenly being given life or death stakes almost out of nowhere, as some unknown challenger approaches, and the singer realises they may have met their match they let out a defiant “Do I look like I’m scared of death!?” rapidly jarring the tone from a reflection on the joys of sport and friendly competition to something more akin to the repelling of an invading force, coming into your turf and trying to beat you at your game. It perfectly encapsulates this feeling of introducing someone to a hobby you thought you were decent at, only to have them almost immediately surpass you. In this case, it manifests in the desire to put the invading player back in their place, the song taking a harsh turn, after the singer yells “Bitch, I know how to play Bocce, I can see your fucking breath!” |
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