Cameron entered public consciousness in September 2009 with her first release on True Panther label, entitled Apply EP (released also as an UK-only 12” on the Young Turks label). The intimate, luxurious music resonated widely, despite being made by Cameron, alone and in airplanes and shoe stores, on GarageBand. Her EPs and live shows earned her attention from producers Van Rivers and the Subliminal Kid (who co-produced a few tracks and the transitions on her debut album) and opening tour slots with The xx, Jónsi, and Delorean.
In 28 September 2010, Glasser released her debut album Ring on True Panther. With Ring Cameron worked for months with producer Ariel Rechtshaid to re-imagine her musical arrangements, incorporating organic instrumentation like strings, woodwinds, bass, and a wide array of percussion into her once-sparse recordings. Her simple, minimal melodies and rapturous vocals are perfectly complimented by the album’s maximalist arrangements. The voice becomes a focal instrument, delivers abstract stories and sounds that drench the music in emotion without resorting to narrative clichés.
Ring is named for chiastic, or “ring”, structure, an idea borrowed from the oral tradition. In it, ideas are paired in a symmetric order, often leading bidirectionally toward a central idea. Cameron structured the album similarly, with no set beginning or end, with its songs representing fluctuating and often contradictory emotional states.
In “Treasury of We,” she claims, “We’re all the same/Set apart by different names,” then in “Mirrorage” says “we live alone…how can I trust in you?” Perhaps she is asking a lover, perhaps any person at all, or perhaps she’s asking Nature itself, another character in Ring. “Ain’t it odd how we mimic nature indoors, when nature is far more vivid to endure?” she asks, adding, “So where’s the comfort there? What’s real can be anywhere.” It offers fantasy (“Hollowed a log to ride…Behind a beast with a liquid hide”), hope (“Let me grow with you/And I will cut all the blooms/To decorate your room”), pain (“The clouds were dust, raining on us/There was a phantom me in a bed of love”).
In Glasser there exists, side by side, the optimism of a woman captivated by creation and travel, as well as the anxiety that accompanies nomadism and change. Of this duality, the New York Times said “these are beautiful songs, both sweet and abstract, deeply felt and anodyne.” Somehow, in Glasser’s efforts to make sense of her world, she has made an album with the universal lure of both a lullaby and a hymn.
Official site: http://www.myspace.com/glasssser
Divide
Glasser Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But the moon's up somewhere
And there my family sleeps, unaware
Here the sun's out, shining on my distant life
And there my family sleeps unware
We've got love sustained
In a file, in a frame
But I miss the idle moments that define who we are
You mine and I yours
If I could I'd swim out too you
Climb the swelling hills
Meet you on the ocean
Only for a momentary kiss
Underwater bridges forming
Rising with my will
Meeting on the ocean
Only for a momentary kiss
You mine and I yours
In Glasser's song "Divide," the lyrics explore the distance and longing that exists between loved ones who are separated by geography or circumstance. The song begins with a disorienting sense of time and place, where the singer acknowledges that while it may be daytime where she is, her family is likely asleep under the moon somewhere else. This juxtaposition illustrates the separation that exists between the singer and her loved ones, despite their shared connection as a family unit.
The song's chorus emphasizes the idea of being "tethered to the name" and having "love sustained in a file, in a frame." While these tangible representations of family are reassuring, the singer acknowledges that they are not the same as the "idle moments" that truly define who they are as a family. It's clear that the singer misses the intimate and mundane moments of daily life that are taken for granted when everyone is together.
The second verse of the song takes a more poetic turn, with imagery of swimming, climbing hills, and meeting for a "momentary kiss." These lines suggest a desire for physical proximity to her loved ones, even if just for a brief moment. The repeated phrase "you mine and I yours" reinforces the idea of a shared bond that cannot be broken, despite the physical distance between them. Overall, the song is a poignant exploration of the ways in which distance can both strengthen and strain familial relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
You can't see it now
Even though you can't see it, the moon is visible somewhere, where my family is sleeping, unaware.
But the moon's up somewhere
The moon is present somewhere, even though you might not see it now.
And there my family sleeps, unaware
My family is sleeping under the same moon, but in a different place, not knowing what's happening with me.
Here the sun's out, shining on my distant life
The sun is shining on my life, which is distant from my family, and they are not able to witness it.
And there my family sleeps unware
My family is still sleeping, not knowing what's happening with me as I live a distant life.
We've got love sustained
Our love is still strong and present.
In a file, in a frame
We keep our love in a physical form, possibly a picture or a memory.
And we move through our lives tethered to the name
We live our lives with a strong attachment to our identity and names.
But I miss the idle moments that define who we are
I miss the moments of stillness and reflection that help us understand and define our true selves.
You mine and I yours
We belong to each other - you are mine and I am yours.
If I could I'd swim out too you
If possible, I'd swim to be with you.
Climb the swelling hills
I would climb the challenging hills to come close to you.
Meet you on the ocean
I would come to meet you on the vast ocean.
Only for a momentary kiss
We would meet for a brief moment and share a kiss.
Underwater bridges forming
Imagery of underwater bridges forming, possibly symbolizing the challenges and obstacles that we need to overcome in order to reach each other.
Rising with my will
My willpower is what motivates me to rise above the challenges and obstacles.
Meeting on the ocean
We would meet each other on the ocean, despite its vastness and depth.
Only for a momentary kiss
We would share a brief moment of intimacy before going our separate ways.
You mine and I yours
We belong to each other - you are mine and I am yours.
Writer(s): Cameron Mesirow Copyright: Universal Music Publishing Ltd.
Contributed by Kayla E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.