ALTROK Ordinals 39

Rosie Thomas - When We Were Small (Sub Pop)
Jeff says: You may have recently noticed a wispy little girl's voice singing about her favorite white dress and $2 shoes at alternative stations like 90.5 The Night. Well that song is called "2 Dollar Shoes" and the voice belongs to a young Seattle-based songwriter named Rosie Thomas. From what might seem like an unlikely source, Sub Pop Records of Seattle, the seminal indie label that has brought us everyone from Nirvana to Sunny Day Real Estate, comes one of those records you feel great about "discovering". Part-time stand-up comic Rosie Thomas has created a simple, innocent, reflective little (it clocks in at just over 36 minutes) masterpiece here. 10 songs tastefully arranged with not much more than acoustic guitar, piano, and cello. Rosie's crystalline voice and reflections of a Detroit childhood and her family are the focal points here. There are even tape-recorded samples of her actual childhood sprinkled in throughout the record. Though released in January of 2002, "When We Were Small" is just now starting to find it's way onto radio playlists (the few that matter anyway). She's just back from a short tour of England supporting Jewel and will hopefully soon be spreading the word back home in the US this summer. Shhhh...for now she's our little secret.
 

(This week's Ordinals courtesy Jeff Raspe.)