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I don't remember when I got my copy of Haunted, but I do remember |
I have to admit that while I like "Haunted"; it may not be for everyone. I think it's probably too creative for blander folks. Poe doesn't sound like Pink Floyd, but her use of audio recordings on this album is very Floydian to my ear. While tracks like "Walk the Walk" are great jams that you can rock out to as their own thing, I think this album is best enjoyed whole and not à la carte.
I remember that I was excited when I found that Poe had another album, although I didn't discover that until a few years after it came out. I didn't like it as much as the first album because I was expecting a more straightforward rock album than what it is. It took me some time to truly appreciate its creativity. Which is kind of strange, but totally normal for me. I like the idea of artists being different and changing things up, but when they do it, I always kind of hate it. It's like I have to recalibrate. I've been a Moody Blues fan since I was a young teen, and I've hated every one of their 16 studio albums until I got a chance to absorb and process it. Don't ask me, I didn't design this brain, I just live here.
I didn't know about the "House of Leaves" connection until recently, when I noticed the connections organically and did a little research.
Lifted from Wikipedia:
House of Leaves was accompanied by a companion piece (or vice versa), a full-length album called Haunted recorded by Danielewski's sister, Anne Danielewski, known professionally as Poe. The two works cross-pollinated heavily over the course of their creations, each inspiring the other in various ways. Poe's statement on the connection between the two works is that they are parallax views of the same story. House of Leaves refers to Poe and her songs several times, not only limited to her album Haunted, but Hello as well. One example occurs when the character Karen Green is interviewing various academics on their interpretations of the short film "Exploration #4"; she consults a "Poet," but there is a space between the "Poe" and the "t," suggesting that Poe at one point commented on the book. It may also be a reference to Edgar Allan Poe.
The album Haunted also draws heavily from the novel, featuring tracks called "House of Leaves", "Exploration B" and "5&½ Minute Hallway", and many less obvious references. The video for "Hey Pretty" also features Mark Danielewski reading from House of Leaves (pp. 88–89), and in House of Leaves, the band Liberty Bell's lyrics were also songs on Poe's album.
Album Playlist:
