The album opens with “Little Prince,” and immediately Daphne Parker Powell delivers a beautiful, moving performance. This song is named after the children’s book, touching upon some of the same themes. Also, by giving it that name, Daphne has the listener ready to start from a place of innocence, and also a place of some common ground, since most of us are familiar with the story. And she has us prepared to think of identity. “Now I’m once again just like the others,” she sings. Some gorgeous work on violin adds to the emotional impact of this track. For me, the line that really stands out is this: “I’m seized with desire to awaken.” Who among us can’t relate? “Little Prince” is followed by “The Starter Wife,” the album’s title track. As it begins, she looks back to the moment when marriage was proposed, and that steady rhythm on guitar tells us things are not going to go well, that anger runs below the surface. “I didn’t ask for much/The first time we touched/Somehow a decade goes by/You check your watch and then ask the time/And pour another glass of what gets you by.” And she clearly states, “And I was not meant to be a starter wife.” And, as if she is too angry to speak after that line, the electric guitar takes over with a powerful lead.
The violin helps set the tone at the beginning of “Enough To Kill.” This is a compelling song about a seemingly simple moment that shows a larger problem. Near the beginning of the song she sings, “Like a corpse, and nobody’s closed his eyes.” Moments later she realizes she has to do it herself, singing, “I close my eyes and feel us fall apart/I hear you breathing, so hard not believing/In a lie you’ve never told me.” She sounds vulnerable, and as we listen, we feel like we share that vulnerability. Check out these lines, which conclude the song: “But I carry my cage in my clutches/So I can never fly too close to the sun/And when I said I loved you I meant I loved you/You closed your eyes and tried to fall apart/And as we pass through this quiet moment/It’s so damn long for being so damn short.” I love that at this point he tries to follow suit, to close his eyes, to fall apart. Looking for the same effect? Looking to connect? These are excellent lyrics. By the way, the idea of carrying her cage will be revisited in a later track.
“Something Like Heartache” opens with this line: “It was something like heartache, and something like heaven as well.” This song takes place at the end. Is this the last conversation they have? It has that feel. Interestingly, while in “Enough To Kill” she uses the image of a corpse, in this one she likens herself to a ghost: “As I spend these last moments together pale as a ghost.” Some lines tear into us as they tear into her, like “You said, ‘I haven’t been in love with you in years.’” It’s not just heartache in these songs. It’s a disorienting, overpowering sort of situation, where everything that was in one’s grasp is suddenly slipping away. This track features more great work on violin. Then “Sentimental Pessimism (Part 1)” has a somewhat brighter sound, in part because of that stronger rhythm. “Leave it to me to imprison myself with my freedom/Leave it to me to drag demons kicking and screaming/To the gates of heaven and expect to be let in.” Again, there is the image of a cage, or prison, and one of her own making. That is a question that occurs to us while listening to this music: How much control do we have? “Clear Blue” has a somber tone as it begins, and she tells us, “This is the time of year/For the wildest of storms and the rushing of warm air it brings.” Indeed. This track features some gorgeous work on violin.
In “Enough To Kill” Daphne Parker Powell sang, “I carry my cage in my clutches.” She revisits that idea in “Carry My Cage,” the theme and images of freedom and imprisonment. “For all the freedom I was seeking/I’d just carry my cage with me/When I go.” The violin really acts as a companion on these tracks. “Enough To Kill” is followed by “Ghosting.” Interestingly, she begins this one by bringing to mind Bruce Springsteen, the track’s first line being “Darkness on the edge of town.” She delivers a beautiful, melancholy vocal performance. “I search for grace and elegance/To hide away my human frailty from you.” This track features some really nice guitar work. Then in “Sentimental Pessimism (Part 2)” she sings, “Like the record with the scratches that skips my favorite line.” Well, that is probably my favorite line from this song. This track has a somewhat unsettling ending.
“Murderer’s Row” has another beautiful and moving vocal performance by Daphne Parker Powell. There is a sort of late-night, lonely vibe about it, and so I was surprised to find a baseball reference in this song. She sings, “I have struck out looking so many times that I’ve lost track.” At the end, she sings, “You were the one to make an honest woman out of me/Out of me/Out of me/Out of me/Out of me.” Something about the repetition of that phrase changes the meaning. It causes us to focus on those three words, and to almost forget the beginning of the line, particularly as the music swells. The album concludes with “Worth The Weight.” It’s an intriguing title, making us think of a combination of well-known phrases, of something being worth waiting for and something being worth its weight in gold, while also making us think of a burden, of a heavy load. And is it worth the struggle? I think ultimately Daphne Parker Powell is saying that it is. “They say that hope is the cruelest drug/And I’m too restless to ever give it up.”
CD Track List
- Little Prince
- The Starter Wife
- Enough To Kill
- Something Like Heartache
- Sentimental Pessimism (Part 1)
- Clear Blue
- Carry My Cage
- Ghosting
- Sentimental Pessimism (Part 2)
- Murderer’s Row
- Worth The Weight
The Starter Wife was released on October 14, 2022.
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