Dear Reader / Idealistic Animals

Dear Reader
Idealistic Animals
(City Slang)
* * * *

It’s a break-up album, but not as we know it – for Dear Reader (aka Cheri MacNeil) has created a selection of songs concerning her loss of faith in religion.

Lyrics like “I ached myself awake” and “the horizon’s black with smoke”(both from the beautiful and delicate ‘Fox’) suggest that MacNeil went through a huge amount of pain as the security of her constant was gradually eroded. Conversely, the bumblebee guitar in ‘Monkey’ suggests that a new sense of strength has been found amidst her discovery of, dare I say it, the pointlessness of existence.

Those put off by existential wranglings might well steer clear of this album, but they’d be missing out on some tremendously evocative pieces of music; occasionally bringing to mind Emmy The Great, ‘Idealistic Animals’ is a well-crafted album, combining melancholic melodies with a real message.