| Five Ways of Disappearing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1995 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Label | 4AD [1] | |||
| Producer | Kendra Smith, A. Phillip Uberman | |||
| Kendra Smith chronology | ||||
| ||||
Five Ways of Disappearing is an album by the American musician Kendra Smith, released in 1995. [2] [3] It marked a full-album return to music for Smith, who for much of the 1990s had been tending to her northern California organic farm. [4] [5] Smith did not do a lot of promotion for the album, and chose not to tour nationally behind it. [6]
The album was produced by Smith and A. Phillip Uberman. [7] Many of its songs were constructed around the use of a pump organ; others used Turkish drums and harmonium. [6] [8] On some songs, Smith randomly arranged words to form the lyrics, and used multitracked vocals. [9] [10]
"Bold Marauder" is a cover of the Mimi and Richard Farina song. [11]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [12] |
| Robert Christgau | B− [13] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ [14] |
| Knoxville News Sentinel |  [15] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [7] |
| Rolling Stone | [16] |
| Spin | 7/10 [17] |
| The Sydney Morning Herald | [10] |
| The Tampa Tribune | [8] |
Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Spare and haunting, the eerie keyboards and varied guitar textures drape the songs’ slow tempos and rustic melodies, while Smith’s cool vocals deliver elusive, psychedelic lyrics." [14] Trouser Press called "Bold Marauder" "one of the best acoustic Led Zeppelin imitations in recent memory," and wrote that "though some songs are amiss, precious or overly derivative, as a personal sampler, Five Ways of Disappearing is an impressive—and colorful—achievement." [18] Rolling Stone determined that, "when Smith resigns the organ to a background role and matches her voice's fine edge to the guitar's slightly spacey effects, the results are down to earth and memorable." [16]
Robert Christgau thought that, "with the pump organ and all she does have Her Own Sound, especially if you don't remember Nico too clearly—and unlike Nico, she also has a sense of humor." [13] Spin deemed it "a songwriter's album, in the style of Brian Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)... Each package of lyrics is showcased inside of a specific set of instrumental routines." [17] The Knoxville News Sentinel concluded that the album "drags listeners into semi-consciousness two ways: sometimes entrancing with atmosphere, sometimes with lulling tedium." [15]
Don McLeese, of the Austin American-Statesman , listed Five Ways of Disappearing as the 4th best album of 1995; Miami New Times also included it on a list of the year's 10 best. [19] [11]
AllMusic wrote that Smith's "deadpan vocal delivery adds another layer of individuality to an offbeat album by an offbeat artist." [12]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Aurelia" | |
| 2. | "Bohemian Zebulon" | |
| 3. | "Temporarily Lucy" | |
| 4. | "In Your Head" | |
| 5. | "Space Unadorned" | |
| 6. | "Maggots" | |
| 7. | "Drunken Boat" | |
| 8. | "Interlude/Dirigible" | |
| 9. | "Valley of the Morning Sun" | |
| 10. | "Judge Not" | |
| 11. | "Get There" | |
| 12. | "Interlude/Saturn" | |
| 13. | "Bold Marauder" |
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