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 TITLE: A Secret my Heart Can't Keep (feat. Carmen Grant) ARTIST: Evangeline Wolfe WRITERS: Evangeline Wolfe & Carmen Grant LENGTH: 3:18 GENRE: Indie rock, alternative country, indie folk PRODUCER: Reza Vranitzky
Culture Uncut Review"Everybody likes adorable things. Nobody can resist watching a video on the internet of a puppy trying to climb into it's owner's shoe, or a kitten chasing a laser pointer dot to the point of exhaustion. And why? Because it's cute, and it reminds us that not everything in the world is absolutely horrible. For the cynics - which are most people on the internet - it puts things in a different perspective, and people have ultimately come to enjoy different points-of-view over the years of evolution we've endured - or at least the people that have continued to evolve do. So with that in mind, it's no mystery why people would like Evangeline Wolfe's newest song "A Secret My Heart Can't Keep" with Carmen Grant.
First off, let's talk a little bit about our women of the hour - or women of the three minutes, eighteen seconds. Evangeline Wolfe landed herself on the indie rock radar earlier this year with her debut single Sadness is Sweet, which did remarkably well despite the fact that Evangeline Wolfe was not attached to any label at the time - and still isn't. The little redhead from Boston, Massachusetts continued to wow people by opening for Katie Coyle - along with Sara Daniels - during her comeback show - a night that has been forever remembered as the night that Hayden Merjos proposed to Katie Coyle on stage. But after that glorious night, Evangeline Wolfe has mostly kept to herself in the music world. She is hardly ever seen out in clubs or with other friends, and - according to her tweets - seems to prefer staying in with her father, Moses Wolfe, who has at least co-written most of Evangeline Wolfe's songs. The few times that she has spoken to cameras, such as when she attended the Goldies earlier this year, she seemed meek and gentle and mild. Her two singles, which could also be described as "gentle," are very much a display of Evangeline's personality, and we like that in an artist. She might not be as outgoing and in-your-face as some of the Serenity Scotts or Suzies of the world, but that doesn't make her any less of a well-developed musician in our minds.
Carmen Grant, who is also starting to become a big name in the indie rock variety, collaborated with Evangeline Wolfe on this very adorable song - which makes sense because Carmen Grant is also a very adorable woman. Another redhead in the music business, Carmen has become known for her odd personality, and the way that she takes everything she says oh, so seriously. We learned the hard way that when she says something to you that sounds absolutely ridiculous, laughing is the wrong response, because she's never joking. And not laughing at her is a bit hard because Carmen Grant constantly refers to herself in the third person, almost as if the Carmen Grant that we see and hear in a professional sense is not the same Carmen Grant behind closed doors. But no matter how weird and, occasionally, dark Carmen Grant's words can be, she still is absolutely charming - almost a rival to Evangeline Wolfe's charm and delightfulness. Which ultimately is what makes this song so wonderful.
DISCLAIMER: This is a dramatization of what we think happened when writing A Secret My Heart Can't Keep. So Evangeline Wolfe and Carmen Grant got together and Evangeline Wolfe said, "What's a topic that we can write about that will be cute, but will also be taken seriously as a song? Because we're cute people, but we also want to be taken seriously as artists." And then Carmen said something like, "Well, Carmen mostly writes songs about sleeping around... but she does this adorably." And then we assume Evangeline Wolfe blushed or shook her head or something like that, and they decided not to write a song about that. So then after hours of collaborating, Evangeline says, "Let's write a song about being in love with somebody, but you're trying to keep it a secret, but you can't because you're so in love with that person." And then they had a naked pillow fight and made out during When Harry Met Sally. Oh yeah. This was a sleepover/song writing meeting. We forgot to mention that. So after the making out, they wrote the song, added in their sort of innocent sexiness that they both have tons of, and then released A Secret My Heart Can't Keep onto the world.
The song itself is a pretty simple song. It's simply the story of a girl being in love with somebody, and although she can't admit it out loud, the way that she's acting around the person she's in love with makes her feelings towards them pretty obvious. The song was very fitting for Evangeline Wolfe and Carmen Grant to sing together because both of them seem like the type to not be able to express emotions like love or lust very well - especially Evangeline Wolfe, who has admitted that she has never kissed a man before, despite being nearly twenty-five years old. The song has much more of an alternative country feel to it than an indie folk or indie rock feel, which is different for both the women in the song, although both of their music seems to play in the country genre of music. The lyrics repeat themselves for each girl, showing that being unable to admit your feelings to somebody is a universal experience. Also, if anybody ever wanted fuel to start a rumor about Evangeline Wolfe's sexuality, this song could be easily argued as two women singing their love for each other and not being able to tell each other exactly how they feel because of society or whatever you want to say about it. I don't know anybody who really wants to start a rumor about Evangeline Wolfe's sexual identity, but there it is if you want it. (Carmen Grant is already an admitted bisexual, so the rumor wouldn't really effect her).
The song may be a rather simple song - there are no overly dramatic lyrics, no absolutely amazing instrumentals, no super hidden meanings behind the song. It's just a simple, ambrosial song about a not-so-simple concept. And sometimes that's all music needs to be. Simple."
EvangelineCarmenBothHere I go again, smiling too sweet
Can't seem to hold it in every time that we meet
I get this rosy glow, and weak in the knees
I hope you don't know how fast you make my heart beat
I'm a little in love and I'm in a little too deep
Though I'll never say a word, it's a secret my heart can't keep
I'm a little in love and I'm in a little too deep
Though I'll never say a word, it's a secret my heart can't keep
My feet are on the ground whenever you are near
But my head is in the clouds while the rest of me is--
Here I go again, smiling too sweet
It seems that my heart has finally gone
And told on me!
Here I go again, smiling too sweet
Can't seem to hold it in every time that we meet
I get this rosy glow, and weak in the knees
I hope you don't know how fast you make my heart beat
I'm a little in love and I'm in a little too deep
Though I'll never say a word, it's a secret my heart can't keep
I'm a little in love and I'm in a little too deep
Though I'll never say a word, it's a secret my heart can't keep
My feet are on the ground whenever you are near
But my head is in the clouds while the rest of me is--
Here I go again, smiling too sweet
It seems that my heart has finally gone
And told on me!
I'm a little in love and I'm in a little too deep
Though I'll never say a word, it's a secret my heart can't keepSOUNDS LIKE:
Jenny Lewis - Barking at the Moon
TITLE: Asked Me ARTIST: Evangeline Wolfe WRITERS: Evangeline Wolfe, Reza Vranitzky, Moses Wolfe LENGTH: 2:13 GENRE: Indie rock, alternative country, indie folk PRODUCER: Reza Vranitzky
The album takes a slightly shocking turn-around with track nine, "Asked Me." The song just before track nine was Evangeline Wolfe's second single "A Secret My Heart Can't Keep" with her good friend Carmen Grant - a song about being in love with somebody, but being too afraid to admit it. The song had been called "adorable" and "cutesy" by music critics and fans alike, so to go from something to from such a loving, wonderful topic to track nine - which is about being in love with somebody who will never love you back the way you love them - is a little bit of a shock to album listeners. The song was written together by Evangeline Wolfe, her father Moses Wolfe, and songwriter Reza Vranitzky. All of their musical talent goes into the song - which is, interestingly enough, the shortest song on the album at only two minutes and thirteen seconds.
As said before, the song "Asked Me" is about being in love with somebody who only pretends to love you when he has nothing better to do. She sings about all the phone calls she's waited for from him, and all the letters that he said he would send but never did. This guy sounds really scummy already, but Evangeline admits that even though he's made her so upset, she would still accept a date from him if he asked her. She goes on to say that she loves him too much to admit to herself that he's fooling around with other women - even though it's painfully obvious that he is - she's become blinded by her love and can't think straight when she's thinking about him. She admits that if he really doesn't care about her as much as she wants to believe he does, then she's the loser in this situation, but she still wouldn't be able to tell him no if he asked her out. The songwriting of the three - Evangeline, her father, and Vranizky - is obvious in the last two major verses, and they rhyme or false rhyme almost every line, the pace of the song speeding up slightly to match this poetic interlude of lyrics. Evangeline continues to beg her significant other to stay with her, stating that she's a mess without him, and that no matter what he did to her, she would always say yes if he asked her out. The song fades out and you hear Evangeline quietly say, "If you asked me."
The song is a bit different from the other songs on the album - it's more like track two "Out" in the way it's more indie rock than the other songs that could be described more as folk or country. There's a meriad of instruments playing along with Evangeline as she sings, but the most noticeable is the keyboard - which plays the same four notes over and over again at a high electric pitch, which would give the song an almost electronic vibe if it weren't for Evangeline's very clear, unaltered voice singing over it. The beat is held together by the sound of clapping with the tempo, which is very rare for songs. There's almost no percussion, and only a little bit of guitar to hold the tune together. For the most part, the song is completely composed of Evangeline's voice, the keyboard, and the clapping.
Well, I know that I should know better
Then to sit here by the phone, waiting like a fool
And my mailbox never got those letters
That you promised would be coming my way soon
Well, it's a strange concept
With all the tears I've wept
That I would still accept
If you asked me
Well, you show up when you want romancing
And I'm the perfect one to play the part
Well, I might be in your arms, dancing
But I'm not the only one inside your heart
I know you're not all mine
Because I've seen your waundering eyes
Still I would not decline
If you asked me
Everybody sees that love has made me blind
And everybody knows that I have lost my mind
And it may be true, my heart may be askew
This love may be a ruse,
I have everything to lose
But how could I refuse
If you asked me
Oh, my love I can't repress
So, boy, I must confess
What I wish you would request
And I'm not going to make you guess
So put me out of my distress
With or without you, I'm a mess
And, boy, I would say
Yes!
If you asked meSOUNDS LIKE:
Jenny & Johnny - Slavedriver
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