Thrill Jockey
2005
Thinking Of You...
About This Album
End Time was a major step for Freakwater, changing the sound of the band from its strictly acoustic origins without changing the feel of the band. Thinking of You takes another step in that evolution, but manages to achieve the same balancing act: a fuller sound that never abandons the past. This time out, producer Tim Rutili and the band enlist the other members of Califone to add to and expand the Freakwater sound, but it's still the sharp songwriting and vocal harmonies that carry the tunes. Freakwater albums are still the domain of the lovelorn and downtrodden, where alcohol is just about the only solace and circumstances are met with a weary acceptance just shy of hope and a dash of gallows humor, like in "Loserville": "where the bourbon flows like a river, so deep and still" or the "friend who tried to give me the good news, like solace candy found in pills and booze." Tales of loss and loneliness are the order of the day, perhaps most poignantly on "Cathy Ann," which isn't about Catherine Ann Irwin at all, but about one of Woody Guthrie's children who died following a fire caused by an electrical short. And unlike folks like the Carter Family, who turned to the Lord in times of need, religion offers no redemption in Freakwater songs ("Hi ho Silver, high on pills/Use your hands and tell me how I feel/Higher power, higher hand of mine/Tell me why your god is so divine").
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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