The albums Tamara Lindeman of The Weather Station called “perfect records”
Many musical artists have driven themselves to madness in pursuit of those elusive ‘perfect’ albums. From the earliest days of concept albums and the idea that an album could be so much more than merely a collection of ten tracks, there have been artists tailor-made to dominate the album format. In more recent years, the importance of the album has waned somewhat with the advent of downloading or streaming individual tracks. Nevertheless, there are still those out there who believe in the power of the album; Tamara Lindeman is one of those artists.
From forming the folk revivalist outfit The Weather Station in 2006, Lindeman wasted no time in establishing herself as one of Canada’s premier performers and songwriters. The mid-to-late 2000s are often thought of as being dominated by either autotune pop or guitar-led indie rock, but groups like The Weather Station were consistently producing innovative, original and often experimental music, earning themselves something of a cult following in the process.
Given her infallible talents, it is easy to understand why Lindeman has become something of a guiding light for her fellow Canadian songwriters. Rather than being blinkered by her own successful career, Lindeman has always kept up-to-date with contemporary music scenes and a close eye on the changing musical landscape of North America. This fact became abundantly clear when she was asked to list five essential albums for Spin in 2021.
Lindeman’s picks tell the story of a true music obsessive seeking out greatness in whatever form it might take. Within the interview, however, she listed two separate albums as “just a perfect record”; high praise indeed, especially from somebody as accomplished as Lindeman. The first of these “perfect” records is Jennifer Castle’s Pink City, first released back in 2014. Lineman said of her fellow Canuck songwriter, “Just a perfect record. What can I say? It’s perfect. When JC put this out and I heard it, I was like: This is it. I couldn’t believe that someone I knew personally had made an album this iconic”.
In spite of the album’s incredible quality, Jennifer Castle is criminally overlooked, especially outside of Canada. On this point, Lindeman hypothesised, “There seems to be a force field around this album that shields non-Canadians from understanding it, but if you can get through that, honestly, it’s one of the most beautiful records of all time. Gorgeous, sad, deep, living. It’s perfect.”
Lindeman seems to have a deep appreciation for honest and emotional songwriting, which makes sense when you view her own discography. Luckily for her, the past couple of decades have witnessed a renaissance in this side of songwriting. One unavoidable figure within this renaissance period is Weyes Blood, who has been penning infectiously heartbreaking tracks since 2003. The Weather Station singer selected her 2016 record Front Row Seat to Earth as a particular favourite, once again labelling the release “a perfect record”.
Explaining her adoration of Weyes Blood, Lindeman said, “Beautiful, stunningly recorded, warm and sad at the same time. Natalie Mering is a genius of melody, and her voice is incredible”. It is certainly difficult to disagree with the singer here, as the vocal talents of Weyes Blood can scarcely be denied by anybody. Both of these records seem obvious choices when looking at Lindeman’s music, and they definitely suggest that she is constantly keeping her ear to the ground for the next great songwriters and performers to come through.
