Marit Larsen album preview, day two: "This Is Me This Is You"

She continues to stream them, one per day, on her MySpace:

"Your skin feels like counting the bricks in the city"? She seems to be going for an even lighter touch than in Under The Surface. Meringue upon meringue. But already, on repeat plays, this gains weight. Same set-up as "The Chase": flighty in the early verse, then heavier elements show in the chorus, and strings and weeping steel cling to the later iterations. Despite the basic spriteliness of her voice, there's a risk that as the songs pile up on each other in similarity she'll end up with an emotional hush she mostly avoided on the first alb. But we'll see if the songs do pile up in similarity.

"Our love it is reduced to this is me, this is you." First time through this seems like connection, second time like estrangement: "There's nothing left to lose. Our love it is reduced to this is me, this is you." But I'm not sure. Could mean - third time? - they've found their way to the basics, bricks and cities discarded (sadly lost? or no longer necessary?). Sudden shift to a dark chord at the end, then resolving on one that's not-so-dark.

Marit Larsen album preview, day three: "Ten Steps"

Now more directly into country - though still not very direct. Starts w/ plinks and drones from darkest Scots-Irish Appalachia, but the music stays resolutely upbeat and major key, refusing the journey into pentatonic mysteries. So the hint of menace subsides, and it's up to the words alone to carry the sorrow. "Just in case you haven't noticed, I'm about to break your heart, or so I hope," sung with a la-di-da lilt. "Ten steps from your bed to your door, ten steps and I'll see you no more..." Strings add riffs as we go onward, and then she commands the guy to stay still, and all that's left is an orchestral chord holding itself with the dignity and sadness that the music hadn't previously allowed.

(She's previewing the new songs one per day on her MySpace.)