Spider

The Way to Bitter Lake

(Storyboard)

Record Review by Amber Henson

Spider, whose real name is Jane Herships, showed up at a café in New York in 2004.  As she’s also a female folk singer with an acoustic guitar, one is tempted to draw parallels to Jewel.  These women, however, are very different.  Spider is folksier, with a deeper voice, and plays twangy music that at times sounds like it could be from a fantasy film, perhaps from a love scene between Aragorn and Arwen.  When an electric guitar shows up on the aptly titled “End Song,” it’s quite jarring, as the listener has seemingly settled into an electric-free world.

The Way To Bitter Lake is the kind of album that is ideal for time alongside rain/fireplaces/hot cocoa.  Snuggle up and get a little teary eyed during this journey Spider takes you on, with track titles like “Maggie’s Song for Alice” and “I Don’t Know if She Had Any Teeth Because She Never Smiled.”  The songs are soft across the board, and if you’re a little tired, may put you to sleep with their sweet, lullaby-like sound and lyrics like “I loved you the moment I knew that I could.”