Tracks
Rose Melberg: "Take Some Time"
(2006)
By David Greenwald | 24 January 2008
I was planning on doing a few hip-hop bangers this week (you know how we do), but then I checked the Double Agent Records site to see if they’d posted a single yet and OH SWEET MOTHER OF GOD THEY DID and as you guys know, I get a little carried away when it comes to Rose Melberg.
“Take Some Time” is only the second song she’s released since The Softies’ Holiday In Rhode Island in 2000, the first being a recent nonchalant folk cover. So really, this is the first serious Rose Melberg material since her most accomplished release ever. I mean, no pressure - it’s been half a decade, and while that alone isn’t reason to expect a Stone Roses-esque meltdown, her Softies partner-in-crime Jen Sbragia wasn’t involved with the album and Melberg plays and sings just about everything herself. But “Take Some Time” doesn’t just meet my already sky-high expectations. It tears them into multicolored gossamer ribbons and ties them up in a neat bow.
At the time of this writing, I’ve been listening to this song for over half an hour on repeat and honestly I can see no reason to ever turn it off. At first it sounds a classic Softies track – the slow guitar strum, the adorable harmonies – but then there’s that melody. It’s adventurous and swooning, swaying back and forth as she sings “There is nothing quite so fine as / sitting in this patch of sunshine / something of my own / a place to sing alone.” On paper, it might be more of the same, but this time the words are sung playfully. For once, Melberg sounds like she’s having fun, and that makes all the difference.
“Take Some Time” is only the second song she’s released since The Softies’ Holiday In Rhode Island in 2000, the first being a recent nonchalant folk cover. So really, this is the first serious Rose Melberg material since her most accomplished release ever. I mean, no pressure - it’s been half a decade, and while that alone isn’t reason to expect a Stone Roses-esque meltdown, her Softies partner-in-crime Jen Sbragia wasn’t involved with the album and Melberg plays and sings just about everything herself. But “Take Some Time” doesn’t just meet my already sky-high expectations. It tears them into multicolored gossamer ribbons and ties them up in a neat bow.
At the time of this writing, I’ve been listening to this song for over half an hour on repeat and honestly I can see no reason to ever turn it off. At first it sounds a classic Softies track – the slow guitar strum, the adorable harmonies – but then there’s that melody. It’s adventurous and swooning, swaying back and forth as she sings “There is nothing quite so fine as / sitting in this patch of sunshine / something of my own / a place to sing alone.” On paper, it might be more of the same, but this time the words are sung playfully. For once, Melberg sounds like she’s having fun, and that makes all the difference.