From a children’s book, Charlotte Sometimes borrowed the
name of a precocious boarding school student who finds herself
transported 40 years into the past, into the body of another
girl. This curiously dark story of time-travel and interchangeable
identities, written in 1969 by Penelope Farmer, captivated Charlotte
and embedded inside her restless mind the inspiration for detailing
her own exploits, into that tentative space between confrontation
and escape. The idea that you could actually be someone else—that
people often did adopt alter egos, depending on the circumstance—fascinated
her.
Charlotte Sometimes’ enchanting debut full-length, Waves
and the Both of Us, is a product of insomnia, airplanes, and
bodies of water, not to mention countless hours of daydreaming
to the mesmerizing sounds of Billie Holiday, the Everly Brothers,
Jeff Buckley, and Fiona Apple, among others. An allusion to the
year to which Farmer’s protagonist travels, the title isn’t
so much an overt reference to the book as it is a recognition
of the fact every one of us is stuck somewhere, trying to be
someone else, or at least play the role of one of our personalities.
It’s difficult to say whether Charlotte’s onstage persona
is an outlet from these personalities or just one of them. Probably
both. As a performer, she’s flippant and seductive, and
as a songwriter, she gravitates toward the shadier elements in
life, like spiders and Valium (“Sweet Valium High”),
using the eclectic imagery to dissect the dynamics between women
and men. “The whole idea of the power struggle between a
man and a woman entertains me—the idea of what a woman’s
role is, if it’s to be submissive to a man, or if it’s
to be in charge of a man, if it’s to be equal to a man.”
Take the rosy song, “Ex-Girlfriend Syndrome,” which
digs relentlessly inside an ex-boyfriend’s head. “I
always imagine teenage girls in their car on a summer day just
dancing around in their car listening to the songs, and being,
like yeah, ‘Fuck you!’ A lot of the record is about
getting those kinds of feelings out, but you don’t have
to mope about it.” Throughout the album, beats—both
instrumental and electronic—are a vital part of the drama,
pushing the record forward and allowing the music and stories
to pulsate underneath your skin. Meanwhile, the somber, piano-laced “Pilot” tells
a different story, filling in the unspoken space between two
people.
Charlotte Sometimes uses Dean Markley’s Alchemy
GoldBronze Acoustic LT, while her Bassist, Shaun Savage,
uses the Nickel
Steel RoundWound XL.
Shaun Savage, Bassist for
Charlotte Sometimes, said:
"I feel safe taking the stage night after night with the reliability,
durability, and consistency of my Dean Markley bass strings."
Be sure to visit the Charlotte Sometim website at:
www.CharlotteSometimesMusic.com.
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