Baby Dee
A Book of Songs for Anne Marie
[Drag City / Tin Angel; 2010]
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14192-a-book-of-songs-for-anne-marie/ (http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14192-a-book-of-songs-for-anne-marie/)
To do right by A Book of Songs for Anne Marie, the intriguing second LP by Baby Dee for Drag City, it'd be best to unload the Cleveland songwriter's significant baggage asap: Baby Dee is the harpist and pianist on Drag City that is not Joanna Newsom, though both sing as if they delight in discovering new corners and nuances of their own voice. Baby Dee is also the transgender singer that is not her longtime collaborator, Antony Hegarty, though both write with a wonderfully transcendental trust in the way love can reshape our world. And, lastly, Baby Dee is not her mentor and collaborator David Tibet, though her contributions to his Current 93 have been profound and, as she puts it, Tibet was the "patient and forgiving surrogate father" to these dozen Songs.