How We Quit the Forest

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How We Quit the Forest
How We Quit the Forest.jpg
Studio album by
Rasputina
ReleasedAugust 4, 1998
Genre
Label Columbia
Producer Chris Vrenna
Melora Creager
Rasputina chronology
Transylvanian Regurgitations
(1997)		How We Quit the Forest
(1998)		 The Lost & Found, 1st Edition
(2001)

How We Quit the Forest is the second studio album by American rock band Rasputina, released in 1998 by Columbia Records. [3] After years of being out of print, it was re-released by frontwoman Melora Creager on her own label, Filthy Bonnet Recording co., on CD [4] [5] and, for the first time, vinyl in 2011. [6] Former Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna produced the album and provided many of its sounds and samples. [7]

Contents

Promotion

The first track from the album, "The Olde Headboard", was released in 1998 as a promotional-only single prior to the release of the album. Manufactured in both CD and 12" vinyl editions, with a slight difference in track listings between them, the single contains a number of remixes of the song. [8] [9] Around this time, Sony Music Entertainment also produced a video for the song, directed by Lisa Rubisch. [10] Conceptualized as "a haunting anxiety dream where our heroines must fulfill impossible tasks," in the video, Creager cries sitting among dozens of teacups and kisses a taxidermy goat, Julia Kent pins corsets to an infinite clothesline, and the band plays cello on a wooden stage in a forest near a German-fairy-tale-style cabin. [11]

A limited promotional-only long box edition of the full album was also manufactured, prior to its wide release. This version contains a "story-book" with drawings and collage-style art put together by Creager.

On October 15, 1998, the band appeared as the musical guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien to promote the album, performing the song "LeechWife". [12] [13]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Tim Sheridan of AllMusic commented "This band deals in what can only be called chamber-goth: a grungey cello-driven rock that is perfect for those nights when you just want to feel creepy. While the sound is original and sometimes very effective, the overwrought vocal vibrato gets tedious." [14] In a review for CMJ , Kurt Reighley commented, "Rasputina shoehorns the distinctive sonorous properties of its instruments, plus Creager’s lyrical fetishes (including, but hardly limited to, death, madness and exorcism), into pop song formats with all the grace of a linebacker squeezing into his first pair of stiletto heels. And the outcomes are pretty similar, too: precarious and uncomfortable, yet weirdly alluring." [2] Clarendon Lavorich of Lollipop Magazine said, "All in all, How We Quit The Forest surpasses even their debut in innovation and originality. Thus, no one is going to like it. But I do." [15]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Melora Creager (except where noted).

No.TitleLength
1."The Olde HeadBoard"2:51
2."LeechWife"3:12
3."You Don't Own Me" (David White/John Madara)2:24
4."The New Zero"3:40
5."Rose K."2:48
6."DwarfStar"2:41
7."Sign of the Zodiac"3:46
8."TrenchMouth"3:10
9."Herb Girls of Birkenau"3:02
10."MayFly"2:38
11."Christian Soldiers"1:31
12."Things I'm Gonna Do"3:13
13."Diamond Mind" (Creager/Julia Kent)1:11
14."How We Quit the Forest"2:36
15."Watch T.V."3:07

A bouns track, "The Olde Headboard (Weathered Mix)" was also included as an unlisted track on the 2011 CD reissue. [4]

Credits and personnel

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References

  1. 1 2 AllMusic review
  2. 1 2 Reighley, Kurt (September 1998). "Reviews: Rasputina - How We Quit The Forest". CMJ New Music Monthly. p. 58. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  3. ↑ Reighley, Kurt (September 1998). "Reviews". CMJ New Music Monthly. p. 58. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  4. 1 2 "How We Quit The Forest CD". Rasputina Webstore. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Rasputina: How We Quit The Forest". Tower Records. Retrieved June 30, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ↑ "How We Quit The Forest Vinyl". Rasputina Webstore. Archived from the original on November 26, 2011. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 "How We Quit the Forest credits". AllMusic . Retrieved November 20, 2010.
  8. ↑ "The Olde Headboard - Rasputina". AllMusic. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  9. ↑ "A Rasputina Discography". Rasputina's Official Website. Archived from the original on April 17, 2003. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  10. ↑ "The Olde Headboard - The Video Treatment". Archived from the original on February 9, 1999. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  11. ↑ Rasputina (1998). The Olde Headboard (Music Video). Sony Music Entertainment. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Rasputina Filmography". Imdb. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Rasputina performing 'Leechwife' on Conan". Youtube. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  14. ↑ Sheridan, Tim. "How We Quit the Forest AllMusic review". AllMusic . Retrieved November 20, 2010.
  15. ↑ Lavorich, Clarendon (January 1, 1999). "Rasputina - How We Quit The Forest". Lollipop Magazine. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
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