Well for once at a concert (Martha Wainwright) I turned up in time for the support act, who turned out to be Catherine Feeny. She was quite good, although as I mentioned in my concert review, it's never easy making a qualified judgement on an artist doing a solo show. You don't have any idea how their sound transfers to the record.
Still, I liked what I saw enough to check out the album. Much like Nerina Pallot with Fires, there will be a lot of people saying this is her "debut" when in fact it is a belated follow up to her self-titled 2003 album. Still there is no doubt that the time is right for a female singer-songwriter, and Feeny is one of the best of the "new" breed.
It's lazy to compare the latest act to their predecessors, but there is no doubt that fans of Sheryl Crow and Suzanne Vega would find much to like on this album...and indeed anyone who thinks Sandi Thom is the second coming of Jesus might like to check out what a really good album actually sounds like.
Accessible enough to grab you on the first listen, the tracks bear up well to repeated plays with the melancholy aspect of the songs tugging at your heart strings. However, despite the melancholy and introspection on display, the album is never dull or depressing.
Mr Blue is delightfully bittersweet, and Always Tonight hides its tormented lyrics behind a warm acoustic glow. And as if to prove she can rock out, the title track shows Sheryl Crow just what she might like to do next after the pretty insipid Wildflower.
It's pretty much a given that at this stage of it's life, Hurricane Glass isn't going to sell anywhere near as many copies as Sandi Thom's Smile...It Confuses People, but it's also very clear that this is ten times the album that will ever be.
No comments:
Post a Comment