Open Letter to Heather Phares

In a small attempt to make good on a resolution to contact my favorite artists and give thanks,
I wrote this letter to Heather Phares.

She is a writer for allmusic.com
who has contributed many extremely well observed and articulated album critiques,
that I've come across time and time again
in my many OCD music investigating band/album research expeditions.

I couldn't figure out how to contact her through the site,
so instead I wrote an open letter of appreciation to her.


Hi Heather,

I just wanted to thank you
for your countless thoughtful and insightful music reviews.

I have never written a letter with the purpose of thanking
the good work of a complete stranger.
But felt compelled to in this case.

Your music reviews at Allmusic
have increasingly helped guide the many musical decisions
I make on a daily basis
as to what bands to check out,
what albums to pursue,
give a second chance,
see in a different light
and see the merit in or triteness of when I didn't otherwise, etc.

I first singled your reviews out from the others
when I was becoming increasingly interested in Broadcast years ago.
As my love for the band expanded
I felt very well guided by the brevity and artfully articulate
(sometimes downright poetic) descriptions:

"Trish Keenan's air-conditioned vocals"

"layers of chopped up, sawing strings giving it an oddly and sweetly tentative feel."

"...she can still occasionally seem to be hovering slightly outside the songs."

I have great respect for when someone can crystallize
the amorphous quality of a musical impression
and communicate it sensually through words.
And nine times out of ten,
when I was startled by a pointedly specific
yet poetically expansive description in a review
I looked up to see "by Heather Phares" to the top right.


Quick and economic as your words are,
they often wholly gather the richness and subtlety of your subject,
such as when you wrote of The National's lead singer:
"dark chocolate richness of Matt Berninger's vocals"

So thanks for the great work,
and I look foreword to many more reviews from you in the future.

All the best,

-Ali