Rain Perry's High Wire Walk
by Sasha Stone
Through her songs, Perry works out her complicated life of trying to
be a mother, a wife, and an artist.
If Rain Perry was a character in a film, she'd probably be cast as Winona
Ryder - the two share the same eyes and the same haircut. But Ryder seems
to offer my life at its very best, while Perry's music has enough stuff
to get me through the hardest days.
Perry wrote music and played piano and guitar most of her young life
until she was stricken with Rheumatoid Arthritis and became unable to
really move her fingers enough to play. Where that might make someone
like me fall into a pit of despair, possibly even turning to something
like smack or severe alcoholism to ease the bitterness, Perry worked it
out, then went on to write beautiful songs.
I can't remember the last time an album brought me to tears. Perry's
"Girl in the Doorway," a lullaby of sorts, is about the last time she
saw her mother who died, leaving a seven year old Rain to be raised by
her father. Remarkably, the song is written from the mother's point of
view, making it all the more moving; what is harder than losing a child,
even if it's you who's dying?
"My girl in the hospital doorway Perry has endured the death of both parents - her father's only last
year.
What makes the album so great, aside from the writing and Perry's clear,
lovely voice, is its dramatic structure. It moves with ease from the brooding
"Girl in the Doorway," the fourth cut on the album, to a cover of Randy
Newman's "Let's Burn Down the Cornfield," building up and bringing down
the listener, creating a sense of story.
"Yosemite," the third cut, is nothing short of a masterpiece. A clear,
dead-on metaphor; an insightful declaration of Perry's own genius: suffering
makes great art, not because of the present pain but because of how much
more glorious life becomes in the wake of it:
"I've seen the brightest sparks "Ten thousand tons of ice The farthest down Perry goes after "Girl in the Doorway" is a dark portrait
of a child molester. Like the other songs on the album, "Idaho" is directed
at someone. The "you" changes from song to song, making it clear that
the writer is working out her relationships and roles to these varying
forces in her life, hence the title "Balance."
"The Real Thing" closes the album, drawing a kind of resolution to it
all, describing what must be Perry's workable philosophy of life. Finally,
it's about what you can count on when all else fails: "Welcome to the
real thing/where the girl's not always pretty/and the bed's not always
made/and often you're both too busy/or too tired/but the passion that
she shows you/it is because she knows you/what more could you desire?"
What more, indeed. "Balance" is exceptional debut album and Perry is
the real thing. 
Rain
Perry's songs on her new CD "Balance"
alternate between frustration and joy, happiness and disgust, brooding
sexuality and fear.
saying good night to me.
I say I'll be here in the morning,
but you know I won't be."
Glowing in the faces
Of my friends whose lives have been
The biggest mess
They don't make landmarks
Our of ordinary places,
Only landscapes that have seen
The most distress.
Are crushing you
Into a beautiful one-of-a-kind boy
The thaw will come
And you will be
Yosemite."
Sasha Stone