Farsighted by Whit Hill and the Postcards

Hill was born and raised in New York City, the only child of two actors: a WASP from the cotton fields of Mississippi and a full-blooded Armenian from the moonshine mountains of Appalachia. A child actor herself, she was a drama graduate of the High School for the Performing Arts, came to Ann Arbor to study dance at the University of Michigan and spent 14 years there as artistic director of People Dancing, a contemporary dance company. For five years, she toured North America – from the Vancouver Music Festival to New York’s Bottom Line – as a backup singer with Dick Siegel and the Na Nas. A prolific songwriter, Hill formed the Postcards in 2001.

Hill's new album, “Farsighted”, features 13 original songs about money, sex, love, crossing I-94 on foot during rush hour (“which I have actually never done” admits Hill, “though I’ve thought about it”) and “Sweetie Momma” – the little old lady who used to live across the street from her. The title track is a waltz that explains the mysteries of eyesight.

The Postcards are:

Whit Hill (songs, guitar)

Al Hill (guitar, keyboards, backup vocals)

Patrick Prouty (electric bass, upright bass, raggedy bass and background vocals)

Chuck Navyac (drums)

Drummer Tim Gahagan was the drummer on Farsighted, then moved to California! We miss him a lot.

Special guests on the album include fiddle player Nick Reeb (of the bluegrass band King Wilkie), and singers Sue Gillis and Annie Capps.

“Farsighted” was recorded without the use of vocal pitch correction.

For lyrics and full information about Whit Hill and the Postcards, visit www.whithill.com

READ WHAT THE Detroit Free Press had to say...

March 2006

Whit Hill's 2003 debut album, "We Are Here," was a strikingly well-executed premiere, a rich and vivacious suite of material from a singer-songwriter who seemed to surface out of nowhere.

It also set a formidable high standard for the Ann Arbor artist and her band, the Postcards, led by husband and scene veteran Al Hill on guitar and piano. But for the most part, Hill has successfully cleared the bar with "Farsighted," delivering a sophomore effort that maintains the first record's strengths while venturing confidently into new territory.

Hill's songwriting pen remains sharp; she's a smart writer who doesn't let her intellect get the better of her emotion. Best are her evocative slice-of-life vignettes ("Clean My Room," "Five Lanes of Traffic," the title track), songs that operate on multiple levels but are graceful enough -- and playful enough -- to avoid the clumsy symbolism that afflicts so many like-minded peers.

Still, there's a musical and lyrical pointedness here ("Picture of a Girl," "Regimen") that wasn't so apparent on the first record. The whimsical feel has been toughened with a bit more bite.

The Postcards provide top-end instrumental backing, easily traversing the worlds of bluegrass, traditional folk and saucy blues. Despite what Hill has described as rush-recording sessions last fall, "Farsighted" sounds groomed with warm care -- a blue-chip album that stands on its own while firmly proving that 2003's magic was no fluke.

By Brian McCollum,

Free Press pop music critic

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