Jane Siberry - The Speckless Sky (1985)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Jane Siberry - The Walking (1987)

Crystalline art pop from the great Jane Siberry. While The Walking will always be my personal favorite Siberry record, The Speckless Sky is probably her best. It's less experimental, but it's also less melodramatic, it's exploratory, and has the same shimmering, idiosyncratic beauty. Pretty sure this is what people have retroactively started calling "sophisti-pop," but I haven't adopted that one yet because it's so lame, it physically hurts to say out loud.

Track listing:
1. One More Colour
2. Seven Steps to the Wall
3. The Very Large Hat
4. Vladimir Vladimir
5. Mein Bitte
6. The Empty City
7. Map of the World Part II
8. The Taxi Ride

There
There's the sun
Through the bars
Cutting swathes
Lighting dust

If you like this, listen to:

Anna Domino -
East and West (1984)

Jan Bang -
Frozen Feelings (1989)

Jane Siberry - The Walking (1987)

The Walking is a truly strange record. Not only is the music itself a virtual labyrinth of knotty verses, muttering asides, new-age-y sap, lyrical surrealism, and big, extended pop hooks, there's a real cognitive dissonance to hearing such progressive, avant-garde music employing pillowy, keyboard-saturated, radio-ready 80's production. No one seemed to care much for it when it first came out -- this was reflected in Siberry's choice to severely rein in her progressive tendencies from here on out, cementing The Walking as an outlier in her discography -- but it's always been my favorite of hers. Most of you will probably not like this, but just a few of you might love it. And it's my goddamn birthday.

Track listing:
1. The White Tent the Raft
2. Red High Heels
3. Goodbye
4. Ingrid and the Footman
5. Lena Is a White Table
6. The Walking (And Constantly)
7. The Lobby
8. The Bird in the Gravel

Well, maybe she should go to school
No, no
She's a table