[audio:http://www.jukeboxheart.com/divas/kimyadawson/Lullaby.mp3]
Kimya Dawson – Lullaby of the Taken
(Hidden Vagenda CD, K Records, 2004)
3:46 | 3.45 MB

It has been awhile since I revisited the diva category here in Jukebox Heart, but the lovely and unique music of Kimya Dawson certainly earns her a spot in this hall-of-fame-of-sorts. You may be familiar with the Moldy Peaches, whose release on Rough Trde spawned the instant hit “Downloading Porn with Dave” and earned them a spot in the December 2004 edition of Moonlight Radio. Kimya is one-half of that band, and since the band went on hiatus (er, broke up?) in 2004, Kimya has embarked on a remarkble solo career. She has albums out on the K imprint, the famous label of Olympia where she now lives, and on Massachusetts’ own landmark imprint, Important Records. Her fourth album, Hidden Vagenda, is probably her darkest, even more honest than all of her other work if that is even possible. The track selected here is from Hidden Vagenda.

Kimya strips away all the pretenses of every female vocalist who has come before her. The goddaughter of “Antifolk”, Kimya succeeds by simply being true to herself. There is no empty space between her visions. There is no filler in her songs. She prevails by being tender, vulnerable, silly and raw. She shows you what she loves and makes you love it, too. She is the quintessential authentic bohemian artist – what almost every smoky nightclub jazz chanteuse wishes she could be. Dawson is the artist-poet skateboard girl. And, most importantly, she is a delicate human sensing device, the only real human on a planet full of androids. What makes her music so unique and amazing is her undiluted humanity. Hidden Vagenda is her first studio album after a trilogy of home recordings from 2000 – 2003 and was recorded in the Bay Area at Mourningwood Studios and in friends’ bedrooms, garages and yards. She was joined by friends Joe Gore, Arion Salazar, Stephan Jenkins, Daniel Johnston, Vanessa Carlton and a children’s choir in St. Ouen, France. Hidden Vagenda was co-produced and mixed by Jason Carmer (The Donnas, Run DMC, Third Eye Blind), Arion Salazar and Kimya Dawson. I’ve only included on track here, but really, you need to hear it all…