January 03, 2005
Hidden Vagenda
It is easy to understand why Kimya Dawson, who used to be in The Moldy Peaches along with Adam Green, might at first come off as naïve. On first take her songs sound almost pre-sexual in their simplicity. Only don’t let all the blatant enthusiasm fool you. There is nothing simple about Dawson’s worldview. The subjects of her songs are as big as they come: rejection, trauma, love, politics, consumer culture, death – often all at once. Take the title of her latest album: Hidden Vagenda. Right away the album takes a strong position. In fact, it is almost like a super quikie treatise on life. Unlike folkies though, Dawson is really inventive with turning the singer-songwriter’s voice on its head, which is much more akin to the sweet insanity of the late Daniel Johnston (or, Chris Knox, the no less hyper-sensitive New Zealander). Only her almost self-help-like fervor puts Dawson in the league of such famed bands as the 60s Fugs (Ed Sanders, along with the better known Abbie Hoffman and Allen Ginsberg, was among those who sought to levitate the Pentagon by encircling it with Yippie protesters). Most of all, Hidden Vagenda is as sweet and life affirming as the best songs by the great Jonathan Richman whose latest release by the way, Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love, has to be one of the best albums of 2004.