Unconventional Voices

Hello! I have decided to do an unconventional voices series because the task was too daunting in one single post. This is very important to me because I find myself liking things that other people find weird or silly or annoying and I think it’s ridiculous to not like something because it’s hard to listen to or watch or just consume causally. Today (or tonight, rather) I am going to talk a little bit about Paul Baribeau. The first time I heard of him was actually in a Kimya Dawson song, where she says “Paul Baribeau took me to a giant tire swing” in her song, tire swing. (A super great song and artist I will most definitely write about later.) Then I decided to look him up, and found his song, Strawberry. It reminds me of the one Nate Cohen song, “if you were a _____ you would be a _____” but the nice version. He says all sorts of nice things like “To say that you are funny is like saying the night sky is black.” This song reminds me of one of the nighttime girl scout songs, to be sung alongside Gypsy Rover and Flicker. It also reminds me of a girl scout song in the way that it is such a lovely and sweet song that it really doesn’t matter how conventionally beautiful the voice of the person singing it is. I almost fine these weirder lesser represented voices even more compelling because the song sounds more genuine. You can tell he is singing his own writing, and these are his own thoughts he needs to get out. I believe his voice is really very beautiful, but I can also see why some people might disagree with me. But I can’t imagine this song being sung by anyone else. Go check it out for yourself to help me kick off my series of unconventional voices!

Strawberry – Paul Baribeau