CD: The Age of Miracles by Mary Chapin Carpenter (Introduction)
Since there’s no Doctor Who this week, I’m going to cover a CD that I just haven’t been able to stop playing. The Age of Miracles
By this, I mean that she’s been meaningful and relevant to me for the longest time out of all the musicians that I adore. She was with me as I transitioned from high school to college, college into the adult world, and then the adult world into whatever the heck this is now. She got me through house-cleaning Sundays, gloriously long road trips as well as soul-sucking disillusionments.
Oh, our relationship has not been consistent. She hasn’t even remained my favorite artist of the moment through all our years together.
I found her during her literate yet radio-friendly days. Then as she and her music matured, she lost me for a little while as I yearned for the upbeat tempos and relationship angsts of the past. While I continued to buy the albums, attend the concerts, and bow to the pure poetry in songs that she always produces, I just didn’t feel that I was at a personal-achievement level capable of connecting fully with her messages.
Now, something must have changed. The Age of Miracles
Once upon a time, I would have been impatient with the lack of tempo here. Now, I can feel the separations and differences between each song. I like the way they flow into each other. And with the way the tracks are ordered, there is constant movement within the album.
The first song, We Traveled So Far, starts off
I found myself wondering today
Why do some go and some stay
And the album follows that thought. The songs move between the earthly, the solid—and the aerie freedoms of flight. Mary Chapin Carpenter started writing these songs shortly after a near death health scare, and the contemplations coming out of that experience are present as well.
Musically, there are plenty of melodies and lines that stick in my head. There are some really strong bridges within this collection too, and that is not something I think I’ve recognized in her writing before.
I plan to go through the songs on this album in some future posts so hopefully I’ll provide some strong examples of why I love this album so much. It really is a glorious work.
Other posts in this series