Cassandra Robertson fights the power and finds some peace with new album

In the face of injustice and oppression, some people run, while others hide their heads and pretend they don’t see anything. The third reaction is perhaps the rarest, and definitely the most difficult. It is to fight.

Corvallis performer Cassandra Robertson fights with her voice and her guitar. She uses her words not as weapons, but as a rallying cry to others who, like her, have had enough. Her first album, “The Time is Now,” in 2006 brought her brand of acoustic conscious folk to a wide audience, and her new release, “Impulse to Dream,” features more of that same blend of wry observations and optimism as she envisions a different kind of world.

“I sing for the dreamers, I sing for their dreams. I sing for the ideas and the possibilities. There is a bright side to everything and I have everything I need,” she sings.

On her new album, Robinson dares to consider the possibility of a life where the old institutions and hierarchies dissolve, and individuals retake power over their lives.

“Hermana’s Well,” for example, imagines what it would be like if people work their own land and raise their own crops. Most of all, Robertson is imagining a government that values humans as individuals, rather than supporting corporations and capitalism.

“Let us create a world in which the health of Hermana Christina, the well-being of her children, the purity of her water, are the prime concern of every institution of power.”

Not all of Robertson’s songs are political. Among her poignant love songs is “You at My Front Door,” in which she expresses conflicting longing and ambivalence about her desire to be wanted:

“I want to be with you. And I want you to want me, too. I want to have you at my front door. I want you to want me more.”

The emotions involved in leaving a bad relationship are explored in “Moving On,” as she tells her former lover that she will no longer follow orders. The song could also be interpreted as a long-suffering employee leaving her employer behind.

“It was six years ago that we began our time, and the stories you tell keep piling high. You won’t admit it needs to be through. I’m turning my back and walking out on you.”

Although many of her songs fall into the folk category, a few evoke a country influence or a reggae beat, such as “Into the Streets.”

Balance is another theme in Robertson’s music. In “What I Seek,” she examines how relationships need to find a happy medium between two different people who have different motivations.

“I find what I need. You find it in what is here. This difference that’s between us, we live what each other fears. Meek, sweet, strong, bold, stand aside or grab ahold. There is room for each of us, and each for every soul. You always try to make me happy. I always try to be kind. Everywhere I look around me, what I seek is what I find.”

Robertson often uses her music to support various causes close to her heart. Locally they include the Hours Alternative Currency Program, Alternatives to War and the Corvallis Environmental Center.

You can hear Robertson perform at 4 p.m. July 12 at the Oregon Country Fair in Veneta at the Energy Park Solar Stage. She’ll be performing in Corvallis at 7 p.m. July 17 at Sahalie Wine Cellars, along with Brian Bucolo on drums and Mark Lynch on bass, for a CD release party. Leslie Kernochan will open the show. Admission is $3 to $5 on a sliding scale.

To find out more or to buy a CD, see www.cassandra

robertson.com.

Check it Out

Cassandra Robertson’s new CD, ‘Impulse to Dream,’ will be available Tuesday, July 8, at Grass Roots Books & Music and Troubador Music. Robertson will play a CD release party at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 17, at Sahalie Wine Cellars. Admission is $3 to $5, on a sliding scale. For more information, see www.cassandrarobertson.com.