Live at Fire & Water Cafe
Perfomance Review by Alysa Phillips, GazetteNET Staff
It's often more difficult to get on stage in front of a small audience than it is in a packed house. For Connecticut-native songwriter Hilary Cousins, this challenge is not unfamiliar, but one he accepted, and with his acoustic folk and rock, he won over his sparse audience and even managed to pull other listeners from the street. Cousins, who has been performing for 10 years, could pose for a portrait of the classic independent artist.
While he would like to be playing more gigs, and have a larger fan club, Cousins admitted that making a living with music is difficult. "It's all about getting as many opportunities as you can," he said. "My goal is to get my music out, and to be locally recognized."
After his show Cousins said he wasn't daunted by the small audience, but that his is a very specific audience, and one he is still trying to define. "I am finding that I attract the older crowd," he said. "It is not party music, but anyone can get into the spirit of the music."
Cousins' folk songs, which he accompanies with acoustic guitar, are what he describes as "lyric-based." He said he likes to write about current events and their personal aspects, which makes his songs a little heavier than a lot of the popular music. "I was raised by a theologian," he said, "So there are strains of religious issues and themes in my songs." On his list of musical influences are Johnny Cash, The Water Boys, Mike Scott and Joe Strummer.
True to the folk tradition, Cousins is a songwriter first, then a musician. He said he has always written poetry and screen plays, and while working as a crew member in film and music video production, he found he enjoyed songwriting and performing as well. And the genre of folk seemed fitting for both his talent and his interest. He was searching for answers to difficult questions, he said, and that's what folk songs do.
One such difficult question is about the end of the world and Judgment Day. Cousins explores this question with his song, "Fragments," which is based on popular notions people held during the Middle Ages. Cousins said he wrote the song because he was surrounded by historians; both his father and his wife chose history as their professions. The song touches on themes of everyday life in the Middle Ages, and the unanswerable questions the people had. Cousins throws in a twist, though, by looking at these questions from a modern perspective:
"I am nothing without what came before, I live my life in hope of something more. I want to be whole, but I'm in parts, fragments of who I am."
Another topic Cousins addressed is found in the song "Richest Man in the World," a song he assured the audience was not about Bill Gates, but more about trying to figure out what makes you feel that you've got what you need.
"I believe in things that I can't see. I am sure of things I can't explain. Sometimes I feel like the richest man in the world. Things aren't what they seem. Treasures aren't what I need to see the light, to live a life of love."
But like many artists lately, Cousins kept returning to a theme of anti-terrorism and world peace. "I'm trying to figure out what a folk singer's appropriate response is to the acts of terrorism," he said. He said he hadn't played "Guns of Wounded Knee" for a long time, but that he felt it conveyed his response. The song is based on the Battle of Wounded Knee, which wasn't really a battle, Cousins said, but a massacre, during which the U.S. government forced the last of the Indians and Chief Big Foot onto reservations. The lyrics include poignant descriptions and questions such as "treaty signed in blood," "reign of terror," "doubting your own kin" and "Did you know it was the last time? Did you say it was a good day to die?"
Cousins' feelings about harmony and world peace are especially prevalent in "The Blue Dream," which he wrote about our crazy political time, and the idea that what we do somewhere will have an effect on someone else, somewhere else.
"In the blue dream, the beginning's the end. The circle is unbroke. This is one world, one life, this is one love for you. One heart, one life, this is your dream come true."
Cousins is performing in support of his CD, "Continents Collide," which he released independently last year. He is currently working on a second, full-length CD. During the day he works in media production, as a copywriter and a freelance writer. But he said his true love is songwriting.
