[review 2006: the odds and ends]

When Magic Marker announced the impending release of There Is No Home, they also revealed that Dear Nora’s latest album would also be their last. Katy Davidson decided that the band had gone through enough personnel changes and musical directions that it was no longer worth keeping the name around; Davidson’s next project would mark the beginning of a different era for her.

Perhaps it’s not so surprising that Dear Nora’s final album would feel a bit half-baked, though the thought hadn’t crossed my mind until after I heard the album. Lacking the coherence of previous Dear Nora efforts, There Is No Home seems to bounce between all the various aspects of Dear Nora’s seven-year career, but to little effect. It feels very much like a collection of loose ends committed to tape for posterity, released more to mark the occasion of Dear Nora’s passing than to make an actual musical statement.

Some aspects of the album don’t seem to recall anything from Dear Nora’s back catalogue; the opening two tracks are instrumentals that sound like the work of a very different band. The psychedelic leanings of The New Year are represented by the likes of “Emily” and “The Freeway,” while the laid-back indie bedroom rock of “The Flats of Irony” and “Defeated and Lonely” sound like early outtakes from We’ll Have A Time. Other tracks just sound like outtakes; “What a Weird Cactus” and “The Call” are experiments that don’t really work, and “Frank, the Witchdoctor” sounds very much like a one-off jam before intermission, an impression that the final hidden track does nothing to dissuade.

The bright side is that if you are a fan of Dear Nora, you’re likely to find something to appreciate on There Is No Home. But as swan songs go, it doesn’t stand up very well. Any other Dear Nora release will serve as a more fitting memorial.