The astounding folk singer Linda Perhacs in Parallelograms, and more

 

Here's a legit lost masterpiece in my opinion, not so lost though as one would imagine, as it seems it was rediscovered and expanded on a couple of decades ago.  So really this upload should be 'limited time only' for sure.  The original album from 1970 was reissued on CD with some wonderful nonreleased bonus tracks and demos.

Information on her here.  The bio indicates:

Linda Perhacs (born 21 September 1943) is an American psychedelic folk singer, who released her first album, Parallelograms, in 1970 to scant notice or sales. The album was rediscovered by record enthusiasts and reissued numerous times beginning in 1998, growing in popularity with the rise of the New Weird America movement and the Internet. In 2014, she released a second album titled The Soul of All Natural Things, and a third, I'm a Harmony, in 2017.

Musically she's a dead ringer / singer for early Joni Mitchell, way back in her Songs for a Seagull days, back in the late sixties before Joni became pop-influenced and expanded into the piano-playing as on Blue. Especially with the very female-centred lyrics and the wonderfully performed backup vocals (by herself).  Even her voice is very very similar.

But consider the fact that this LP starts with this amazingly odd song called Chimacum Rain [Chimacum is a location in Wash. State]:

I mean if an artist has the courage to start off with something so oddball, you know they're pretty uncompromising in general.  Even more odd is the title track, which, literally is about mathematical figures!  This song absolutely blows me away musically, completely, in every way you can imagine:

In all this blog, have we ever encountered a song purely about mathematical constructs, that is, not being used metaphorically? It's possible, but I don't remember.

The other really beautiful song to me is If You Were My Man, which is so compelling with the profound depth of her longing:

Seriously makes me want to cry listening to that one.  Obviously, based on some personal heartbreak experience.  And the harmony vocals!   Amazingly to me, this was a demo that never made it onto the album. Perhaps written for a second album that never came about?

It turned out she released two more albums, which like the situation with British Affinity singer Linda Hoyle, are not quite as astounding.  For ex., Daybreak, from the 2014 album, shows the inevitable influence of all the alternative music that came out in the intervening years:

Pay attention to the 2005 BBC interview (among the CD bonus tracks for 1970 rereleased) as well in which she talks about her 'beautiful vision' of the world (in her beautiful voice).

All I could say is, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the beauty and emotion of your music, Linda Perhacs.