Since women are still in the overwhelming, overwhelmed minority of musicians, it's difficult to discuss female performers without making at least a discreet reference or two to their gender. The artists that seem to escape this curse are, sadly, the ones that conform to sexist stereotypes, depicted as weak, submissive, and desperate to subsume their identities in a romantic relationship. Those who've tried to slip this yoke would have been blasted in a less sensitive era with accusations of masculinity, but today, they're greeted with condescending girls-can-rock-too rhetoric from misguided critics. The whole situation is enough to make you throw your hands up in disgust, when along comes someone like Andrea Perry, offering a graceful escape from the gendered ghettos of pop music.
An mp3.com darling, Perry follows up her debut, Saturday Morning Sweet Shoppe, with the appropriately titled Two. She runs through a dozen songs in forty minutes, proving along the way that the attention she's garnered thus far is no accident. Despite her idiosyncrasies-- and there are many-- Perry remains easily accessible, never letting her unique artistic vision slip into insularity. This is surely due to the fact that, at heart, she's a pop songwriter, and a very fine one at that; though some tracks inevitably shine above others, all twelve display an assured sense of craft. The hooks are never repeated ad nauseam; the bridges always arrive in the nick of time. Perry is able to marry simple joys with depth and sophistication, as on the opener, "Bursting Through the Clouds", a potentially radio-friendly crossover hit, but its magnificent chord progressions signal the author is capable of sustaining whatever attention she grabs. An even more daring balancing act arrives with "I Think of Nothing", which chugs along in a disorienting 5/4 beat beneath an ethereal cloud of melody.
The degree to which Perry was responsible for these sonic details makes the album's accomplishments all the more striking; she plays everything except the drums, and sounds thoroughly comfortable on bass, guitar and keyboards. Perry earns added accolades for her production as well: the record feels crisp and clean without veering into sterility. Drummer Chris Searles, the only other musician on Two, is as sympathetic a partner as Perry could ask for, keeping busy without becoming intrusive. Together, they give the songs the thrust they need to keep from stalling.
With all due respect to Perry's talent, what makes Two a success is her attitude. While her liner notes reveal the album is dedicated to a deceased former bandmate, and a quick look at her lyrics reveals no shortage of somber subjects, the music itself is luminous and joyful, a rare thing in these irony-soaked days. If Perry has a weakness, it's that she occasionally works this happy-sad angle into the fey, but like Marc Bolan's records with T.Rex, Two has more than enough conviction and charm to make its overt songwriting forgivable.
