Hibsen The Stern Cost Of Living Self Release
This album is the result of a particularly rewarding song writing collaboration between Irish artists Gráinne Hunt and Jim Murphy. Both have been separately nurturing successful careers despite the obvious interruptions of Covid and over the years each has developed a musical maturity and richness in their output that, if somewhat undiscovered, is to be very much admired.
The project name of HIBSEN is a reference to Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian playwright, whose work influenced a young James Joyce and no doubt inspired him in his own fledgling writings. Taking the short story collection, Dubliners, published back in 1914, Hibsen take on the challenging task of interpreting the fifteen Joyce tales that describe and reflect the rich variety of Dublin life and the characters that reflected the times.
If Ulysses captures the activities across a single day of Leopold Bloom, the series of short stories in Dubliners highlight the vagaries of daily existence for a range of characters, a number of which were to reappear in the pages of Ulysses when it was eventually published in its entirety in 1922.
The integration of music and words is always a risk in such projects, whether the true essence of the stories can be captured and reflected back in terms of their nuance and their interpretation. Happily no such fears exist in this case and the entire project is an unqualified success and the level of talent on display is hugely impressive. Using a string quartet is an inspired decision and the arrangements benefit from the fluid interplay between Lynda O’Connor (first violin), Paul O’Hanlon (second violin), Beth McNinch (viola) and Gerald Peregrine (cello) across the various songs on which they feature.
Producer Alex Borwick does a stellar job in bringing everything together and Black Mountain Studios in Jenkinstown, Dundalk provided the creative space for the magic to take shape. Borwick also contributes bass, mandolin and backing vocals on the album, in addition to Shay Sweeney (drums, percussion), Alan Doherty (whistle), and Laura Ryder (piano).
The songs involve social, political and religious issues and the scenarios outlined include the frisson between the sexes, drinking, and lives filled with disappointment and regret. Perhaps the most famous of these Joyce stories is The Dead and this track is one of the high points on the album with Hunt’s vocal particularly memorable. Another fine song is Clay, with the traditional Irish arrangement complimenting another fine vocal display, whistle and violin duetting around the melody.
The Boarding House captures the tale of a lodger who seduces the daughter of the landlady, and Counterparts tells of the alcoholic, Farrington, and his journey to satisfy a thirst in various pubs such as O’Neill’s, Davy Byrne’s and the Scotch House. The sensitive delivery of the melancholic A Painful Case is beautifully observed and the sense of isolation in a life not really lived is captured with a poignancy.
Ivy Day In the Committee Room channels the memory of Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish nationalist politician, who campaigned for Home Rule. After the Race tells the sorry tale of Jimmy Doyle who squanders his inheritance on drinking and gambling, while Two Gallants covers the tale of two scheming fops who steal in order to maintain their brittle and crumbling pursuit of wealth. The album title is used in the chorus of this song as the miscreants live a life of daily self-delusion.
Grace is another tale of descent into drunken ways and the proposed salvation offered by a religious retreat among friends . Throughout the project, the sweetly subtle vocals of Gráinne Hunt are very engaging and co-writer Jim Murphy shines on both guitar and backing vocals, with the shared vocal on The Boundary House a real stand-out. It captures the female perspective of the pain caused by a moment of weakness in falling for the charms of a stranger who debates whether he should now do the honourable thing and marry.
Final word goes to the lyric in The Dead and the lines “If we were young again, if life replayed, We could have been a great affair, if I had stayed.” A lot of Joyce’s life could be construed as a series of ‘what ifs’ and ‘if onlys’; had he become pursued a career as a singer instead of a writer; his self-imposed exile from Ireland for twenty nine years; his lack of a regular income; his death in Zurich at the young age of 58… However, it is his abiding love affair with both the people and the land of Ireland that provides the legacy to his life and his influence today is as strong as at any point in his life.
The ability to capture the stories contained within Dubliners is no mean feat and the lyrics that have emerged from the co-writing talents of Gráinne Hunt and Jim Murphy are to be greatly admired. No doubt the great man himself would have approved!
Roots music is a term coined to capture and celebrate the enduring talents of local musicians, no matter the particular region. Ireland boasts a proud tradition of artists, musicians, poets and writers, and there is nothing more fitting than to honour the creativity of one of our greatest literary exports. Hibsen is a wonderful concept and delivered with impressive scale. It is an album that will endure and grow in status as time unfolds and, all things considered should become something of an inspiration for future generations.
Review by Paul McGee
The Remedy Club Back To You Self Release
Starting off their third album with a positive affirmation to parenthood, Aileen Mythen and KJ McEvoy make a strong statement in celebration of life. Dedicated to their daughter, the title track sees this talented couple come out of the traps with all guns blazing in a big production arrangement complete with a driving beat, and fulsome strings building the song dynamic.
The self-reflection of Would You Be So Sure is a statement of enduring love and looking back down the road of a relationship that has matured “The old ghosts of the past, they were never made to last, we laid them down to rest.” The guitars and string arrangement sounding bright and bold. Roll With It is a really excellent r ‘n’ b track with a great horn arrangement and a sassy vocal delivery that urges a robust response to the slings and arrows that life throws our way. The song builds nicely to a climax with the excellent guitar of KJ to the fore.
And so it continues, with the songs alternating between up-tempo buoyant arrangements and more stripped down melodies. There is a heartfelt tribute to Gavin Ralston, musician and producer, who died back in 2019. Gavin was a close friend of the Remedy Cub, and a much loved member of the Irish music community. The sentiment expressed in It’s Alright is just perfect in celebrating the life that he lived and the memories that endure.
Texas Sky is a tip of the hat to the roots music that Remedy Club explored on earlier albums and the country sound of pedal steel (Dave Murphy), adds great atmospherics to the big sky arrangement and a song about living free and easy on the range.
The warm keyboards of producer Gavin Glass are prominent on the soulful track Say A Prayer with nice guitar parts and a fine vocal delivery from Aileen, full of passion and pleading. Backing vocals are provided by Rachel Grace and KJ pops up as a strident preacher with spoken word vocals delivered through a megaphone in the mix. Excellent stuff.
“Time ain’t nothing but a clock on the wall” sings Aileen on the track Write Me A Letter and the wish to just live for the moment and enjoy the days we are given comes through strongly in the impressive production. Co-Producer Gavin Glass really brings his A-game to the mixing console and delivers a really cohesive an impressive album, in tandem with the Remedy Club.
Complicated is another slow burn track, with lovely strings and acoustic guitar reflecting the emotions of the song, referencing the apparent lack of empathy in the world – our journey as a race having taken us to a version of humanity that can be seen as a dichotomy at best.
The excellent Boleyn’s Blues is a highlight with Aileen taking the groove back to younger days when she strutted the boards as B and the Honeyboy, a blues band that released some fine music. On this song the slow tempo is perfectly suited to her vocal phrasing and the atmospheric slide guitar of Gavin Glass joins with the horns and keyboards to add real depth and menace to the arrangement; “Take my head, I don’t need it anyway.”
Your Light Shines is another country tinged ballad that has musings on our place in the grand plan, wondering where it may all be leading. Worthwhile has a great Dixieland horn arrangement to set the atmosphere with some fine guitar picking and piano parts that complement the easy groove. Final song I’m Coming Home features another great vocal performance from Aileen as the cycle comes full circle and the journey we all face comes around to its natural conclusion. What awaits is a warm and safe place. Again, the arrangement builds and the great production leaves a cathartic feeling.
Throughout this impressive album there are fine performances from Aongus Ralston (bass), Binzer Brennan and Mark Colbert (drums on selected tracks), Dave Murphy (pedal steel), Gavin Glass (keyboards, acoustic and slide guitar, backing vocals), Rachel Grace (glockenspiel and backing vocals), Ellie Greene (backing vocals), Kyshona Armstrong (backing vocals) and brass provided by Michael Buckley and Ronan Dooley. The string section is the Orphan Strings of Gerard Peregrine, Beth McNinch, Jenny Dowdall, Linda O’Connor and Paul O’Hanlon with Liam Bates writing and arranging all the parts.
KJ McEvoy contributes acoustic and electric guitar, in addition to lead and harmony vocals. Aileen Mythen provides lead and harmony vocals and the twelve songs are all written by the couple. The album is a really great listen and a credit to all concerned with the impressive playing and production a testament to these talented musicians. As the liner notes on the album confirm “Fair play to ourselves for hanging in there against all the odds.” It’s a fragile career at best, this music business rollercoaster ride, but Aileen and KJ have stuck at it through all the twists and turns. They deserve to see this album take its place among the best releases of 2023.
Review by Paul McGee
Rodney Crowell The Chicago Sessions New West
This is a welcome step back in time. When it comes to prolific song writers then Rodney Crowell ticks pretty much every box you can think of over his stellar career. In this case it’s very much an approach of ‘less is more’ where we get ten songs written in the classic old traditions of country music. No frills, just simple song structures with understated playing that serve the overall sound in creating lovely melodies.
Crowell came to our attention in the 1970s and his gradual rise to fame and recognition has been a steady path forged through writing for other artists before building a solo career that has taken him to the very top of his game. Over an impressive catalogue of releases, Crowell has established himself as one of the real icons in country music. His writing is deceptively simple with arrangements that are immediate and communicate very straight forward messages. The new album was recorded in a live setting by Jeff Tweedy and by Tom Schick at Wilco’s Loft in Chicago and there is a real intimacy to the entire project.
Crowell brought three players with him to The Loft — guitarist Jedd Hughes, pianist Catherine Marx, and bassist Zachariah Hickman — while also calling upon John Perrine and Spencer Tweedy (Jeff’s son) to split drumming duties. Jeff Tweedy also appears on vocals, guitars, and banjo throughout.
Across ten tracks and some thirty eight minutes, Crowell delivers a master class on how its supposed to be done. Epitomised by the opener Lucky with a real funky rhythm and a message of love to his wife, Crowell leaves plenty of room for these terrific musicians to stretch and display their many talents. Somebody Loves You follows in a similar vein with a message to keep a grip when life is hard. Lots of groove to the guitars and the piano in the mix here.
Loving You Is the Only Way To Fly is a gentle arrangement and a love song with an uncredited female co-vocal, presumably Catherine Marx, although the video to the single showcases the great vocal talent of Audrey Spillman? The song, You’re Supposed To Be Feeling Good is another love song but this time out the strains of misunderstanding are in the air, ‘Soulmate, the blues are deceiving, They keep us believing we've been dealt the wrong hand, Last night you told me to wise up, Give the disguise up and walk like a man.’
No Place To Fall follows with a heartfelt plea to accept the frailties in another and show both forgiveness and understanding. This is a suitably reverential version of the Townes van Zandt song that originally appeared on his Flyin’ Shoes album in 1978. Oh Miss Claudia is hugely atmospheric and a swamp blues boat rise through the Mississippi delta in terms of feel and groove. The band excel on this one, with piano and acoustic guitars augmenting the double bass and percussive rhythm.
Everything At Once has Jeff Tweedy on co-vocal and it’s a song that both wrote for the album, ‘Everything at once, ah you lose and you live some, The world on a kite string thread, famine and flood, code red, Just don't let it mess with your head.’ It’s a wry observation on our propensity for immediate gratification in an overstimulated world and the need for us to wake up to bigger issues.
Ever the Dark is a song that looks at negative thoughts and days that seem an endless fight against depression. Fuzz guitar driving the beat and the angst contained in the song ‘Now and then we let a little light in, and then we're back again, drawing the blinds, Ever the dark come calling, ever the sun don't shine.’
Making Lovers Out Of Friends is a classic country song and a tribute to the old style arrangements of days past. It’s a song that looks at the fragile line that exists in a friendship and the risk of crossing over into an ill advised relationship ‘So please don't throw "forever after" at me, If you want to keep me close, then don't be mine, The way to live each day in love and laughter, Is if we never ever cross that line.’
Final song Ready To Move On is a look back down the road travelled and the spoken lyric compliments the lovely playing and the understated melody. Crowell looks at the world that surrounds him and muses on the meaning of it all ‘You know there'll come a day when none of this will matter, It will all be so much mindless chatter.’
This album is a real beauty and a testament to the abiding talent of Rodney Crowell. There is an old saying the “form is temporary, but class is permanent.” It was never in doubt that Crowell remains a beacon in the restless seas of singer songwriters and this album proves that he continues at the very top of his game.
Review by Paul McGee
Brennen Leigh Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet Signature Sounds
The majority of artists who are two decades into their recording career, will have taken a swerve in the road along the way and recorded material slightly distanced from their comfort zone. That’s not the case with Brennen Leigh, whose back catalogue is strictly and unapologetically country, whether that be bluegrass, western swing or traditional country. The Fargo, North Dakota-born artist has been most certainly on a roll in recent years and her latest recording follows swiftly in the footsteps of her 2022 collaboration with Asleep at the Wheel, OBSESSED WITH THE WEST and PRAIRIE LOVE LETTER, which was an album of the year at Lonesome Highway in 2020.
A prolific writer and composer, when the idea landed to create a full-on honky tonk album, Leigh already had a treasure chest of suitable songs written, a number of which were co-written with others following her relocation to Nashville in 2017.To complete the process she sought out the assistance of her close friend Chris Scruggs, who helped to flesh out the songs and also produce the recordings. Their criterion was simply to replicate the sound that came out of Nashville in 1967/ 1968, the era when some of Leigh’s favourite albums were recorded by artists such as George Jones and Melba Montgomery. Scruggs also played electric and acoustic guitar and the other musicians, all Music Row royalty, included Tommy Hannum (pedal steel), Micah Hulscher (piano), Alec Newnam (upright bass), Nate Felty (drums), Aaron Till (fiddle, acoustic guitar) and Marty Stuart (mandolin).
Backed by these exceptionally talented players and with Leigh’s smooth vocals, the final product is a resounding success. Across twelve tracks she more than achieves her objective with an album that has ‘career finest’ stamped all over it. The opener, Running Out Of Hope, Arkansas, written with Silas Lowe, gets the show on the road in fine style and gets my vote as the song of the year so far. Although written ‘tongue in cheek’, it’s hardly going to feature as ‘song of the week’ on KNWA Radio in Arkansas. Next up is a co-write with Tessy Lou Williams, Someone’s Drinking About You, which also featured on Williams’ splendid self-titled album from 2020. The Bar Should Say Thanks and Every Time I Do have George Jones and Melba Montgomery written all over them. Carole With An E - check out the YouTube video - was written with Mallory Eagle, who bookends the track with some CB radio trucker talk. It’s a fun-filled, cleverly written song, but one that also emphasizes the quality of the players that contributed to the live recordings in the studio, with only backing vocals added at a later stage. The title track, heavy on fiddle and pedal steel, is classic country with a capital C. Romance and heartbreak emerge on the mid-paced Every Time I Do, written with Noel McKay and Erin Enderlin, and on the tear-jerker Mississippi Rendezvous.
A free-flowing stream of clever lyrics, beautifully articulated, stellar playing, and awash with melody, Brennen Leigh’s goal may have been to pay homage to some of her cherished albums and artists from that late 60s golden era in Nashville. With songs that sound as if they were cherry picked from classic country standards, she has achieved much more than that. AIN’T THROUGH HONKY TONKIN’ YET can stand proudly alongside many of those treasures, so dear to Leigh’s heart, that emerged from Nashville during that period. Country music has evolved mainly towards mainstream pop since then, but in recent years the pendulum is certainly swinging back to a traditional sound, so the timing is spot on for this superb album.
Review by Declan Culliton
Roseanne Reid Lawside Last Man Standing
Although you’re likely to find Roseanne Reid’s albums in the ever-expanding Americana section at your favourite Independent Record Store, the Edinburgh-born artist’s output should more accurately be classified as folk music. LAWSIDE is her second full album and if the title sounds like it was inspired by a hard-boiled crime novel, nothing could be further from the truth. It is in fact a reference to a suburb in Dundee, Scotland, which Roseanne now calls home and where she happily resides with her wife and baby son. That title is a statement of contentment and happiness and those sentiments very much ring through on this thirteen-track album.
The most refreshing aspect of Roseanne’s albums, both this one and her debut record TRAILS, is the honesty and placidness in her music. She sings confidently and passionately in her own brogue, navigating across a variety of emotions, mainly heartening in essence. The album also finds her promoting her Celtic heritage, and why not? The introduction of fiddle and banjo on tracks like Daisy Chain, Mona Lisa and What Constitutes A Sin adds an elegant dimension to both songs, without ever distracting from her vocals and the tales she delivers. Although laid back and low-key in the main, the song selected as the first single from the album, Call It Love, is a bustling affair. With a heavy brass section, it recalls Van Morrison’s Celtic soul output period, which once more suggests Reid’s ‘close to home’ influences.
The focus on contentment and optimism are very much to the fore on the love songs Couldn’t Wish More For You and Made Just For You, the latter written in anticipation of the arrival of Reid’s son. Shine On - a particular favourite of mine - recalls early career Joan Armatrading and she closes with the gentle ballad Take Your Time.
Unlike TRAILS, which was recorded in Brooklyn over a five-day period, the recording this time around took place over multiple visits to the studio and was produced by multi-instrumentalist, Dave Macfarlane. That relaxed arrangement suited Reid’s lifestyle and is evident in the final product. While sticking to the template that has worked particularly well in her career to date, her vocals are more confident, assured and very much in the front of the mix.
Joining Steve Earle on his upcoming solo tour and booked to perform at numerous festivals this summer, will no doubt, attract many more devotees to the literate songwriting and novel vocals of an artist mastering her skills as a writer and singer.
If TRAILS was a welcome introduction to the musical world of Roseanne Reid, this polished set of songs raises the bar by many notches.
Review by Declan Culliton
Michelle Billingsley Both Sides of Lonely Western Myth
“At times perturbing, seldom polite, more often than not irreverent and frequently amusing,” is how we described Chicago-based Michelle Billingsley’s debut album, NOT THE MARRYING KIND, back in 2019. It also offered the listener an introduction to an artist embracing traditional country music and giving a wide berth to the dreaded mainstream pop/country crossover music so popular with country music radio stations in America.
With copious amounts of searing pedal steel, thumping bass lines, slick guitar breaks and quivering vocals, this latest self-produced album finds Billingsley travelling even deeper into honky tonk territory. The eleven tracks - ten self-penned and a cover of Tennessee Waltz - were recorded at JamDeck Studios in Chicago and mixed by Doug Malone. The players are in vintage form throughout, complementing Billingsley’s sweet vocals. They are her trusted rhythm section of Brian Westfall on bass and Jordan Snow on drums, alongside guest player Brian Wilkie on guitar and pedal steel.
As was the case with her debut album, Billingsley’s straight-talking lyrics are as clever as they are caustic, covering familiar themes of jilted love, hangovers, random one-night stands, and lots of regrets. She recalls a two-timing charmer on the opener, I Love The Way He Says He’s Sorry and the same ‘unlucky in love’ storyline unfolds in the two-stepper Bad Case Of The Blues, complete with yodelling and slick guitar playing. The price of a passionate, albeit loveless fling, arises in Trouble Walkin’ and Tammy Wynette’s Stand By Your Man sentiment is questioned in Him, Her and Me. Neither are there happy endings on both Sense Of Smell (‘Funny what he left behind, dirty clothes, lie after lie. But it’s worse what he took, he took your hope’) or the casual one-night stand in Wichita.
It's not all lonesome, regret and heartache, well nearly not all. The acoustic closing track, Joshua, which features vocal, acoustic guitar and cello, is an altogether darker and post-apocalypse affair. As two individuals come to terms with, what could be, the end of the world, (‘Word is from the top, there wasn’t even a war, just someone fell asleep on the button’), it’s a pointer towards Billingsley’s capability of also writing outside her comfort zone.
BOTH SIDES LONELY, in addition to being a noble effort by Billingsley in keeping real country music alive, has turned the heat up a couple of notches from her debut album. And if anyone is wondering about her state of mind given the misery and anguish in many of the songs, I’ll leave the last words to Michelle. ‘I’ve got a whole new sound, a new record. My voice is stronger than ever. I’ve got a ring on my finger. I’ve got a dog now. And my band and I have really grown with this album.’
Review by Declan Culliton
Laura Cantrell Just Like A Rose: The Anniversary Sessions Propellor
Nine years after the release of her last album, NO WAY THERE FROM HERE, and three years after its intended release, JUST LIKE A ROSE: THE ANNIVERSARY SESSIONS, has finally seen the light of day. What was to be a 20th-year celebration of Cantrell’s debut album, NOT THE TREMBLIN’ KIND, fell foul of the pandemic and led to a piecemeal recording of the eleven tracks on the new album. With five producers listed, as many co-writers and contributions from a host of players, many being household names, the end product could very well have been a misfired and disconnected album. Remarkably, nothing could be further from the truth, and despite the ‘all hands-on deck’ approach, the final mix hangs together extremely well.
Recorded in studios both in Cantrell’s birth city, Nashville and in New York where she currently resides, she wears a coat of many colours, fusing full-on roots rockers in the company of more laid-back tunes. She kicks off with two co-writes with founding member of Nashville's Planet Rockers and former bass player with Emmylou Harris’ Nash Ramblers, Mark Winchester. Both written on the same afternoon, the opener Push The Swing is a crunching rocker, followed by a pedal steel-washed country ballad, Bide My Time. Her long-time guitar sideman, Mark Spencer, co-wrote the album’s standout track, Like A Rose. Written in deference to Rosie Flores, an artist much admired by Cantrell since her college days, it’s one that had me hitting the repeat button. Flores was also invited on board to produce that track and the Amy Rigby composition, Brand New Eyes.
A reconstructed version of When The Roses Bloom Again features shared vocals with Steve Earle, Buddy Miller on guitar, and the inclusion of uilleann pipes by Ivan Goff is in recognition of the support Cantrell has enjoyed in the U.K. and Europe. She reminisces on the New York of her college days in I’m Going To Miss This Town and friends and family distanced during the dark days of lockdown fuelled the melodic ballad Holding You In My Heart. The Paul Burch produced Secret Language is a stunning inclusion and all the better for Fats Kaplin’s dreamy pedal steel.
JUST LIKE A ROSE is the essence of what Laura Cantrell is all about. Looking over her shoulder and journeying through a wide canvas of personal plights, it’s a delightfully accessible album of roots songs that both console and delight. It’s also a heart-warming addition from an artist that never appears to put a foot wrong.
Review by Declan Culliton
Tanya Tucker Sweet Western Sound Fantasy
With two Grammy Awards under her belt for her 2019 album, WHILE I’M LIVIN’, it’s no surprise that Tanya Tucker worked with the same production team, Brandi Carlisle and Shooter Jennings, for SWEET WESTERN SOUND. The template also remains faithful to its predecessor, with Tucker’s husky vocals delivering ten slickly produced tracks, one of which, Breakfast In Birmingham, was co-written with Carlisle and also features her vocal contribution.
The album opens with a short ‘voice mail generated’ intro titled Tanya, from her close friend, the late Billy Joe Shaver (‘the glow from the light all around her shows off her beauty so well, she looks like a heavenly angel but Tanya’s meaner than hell’) and merges into Kindness, written by Carlisle’s sidemen, the Hanseroth twins, and the first single taken from the album.
The piano-led Ready As I’ll Never Be and Waltz Across A Ballad are thoughtful mid-tempo ballads and she goes full-on country with the toe-tapping, tongue-in-cheek, and pedal steel-driven, The List. The gorgeous Letter to Linda is a kind hearted ode to Linda Ronstadt, whose influence on Tucker’s career as a young teen artist was significant.
It’s remarkable that after such a successful five-decade career Tucker was only this year inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame alongside Patty Loveless, the first time in history that two women were inducted in one year. The success of WHILE I’M LIVIN’ was instrumental in that overdue recognition and SWEET WESTERN SOUND is likely to mirror the success of that record. She’s in fine voice throughout and with smooth production and co-writes with Bernie Taupin, JT Nero, Billy Don Burns and Craig Dillingham, together with self-written material, she doesn’t put a foot wrong. She’s not going anywhere either and I suspect that her ingrained outlaw spirit will continue to shine going forward.
Review by Declan Culliton
Cowboy Junkies Such Ferocious Beauty Cooking Vinyl
The last studio album from lo-fi Canadians Cowboy Junkies, SONGS FROM THE RECOLLECTION released last year, was a trawl through earlier much-loved songs that cemented their musical direction as a band. Siblings Michael, Peter and Margo Timmons, alongside Alan Anton, have been releasing music since their debut album WHITES OFF EARTH NOW in 1986, which was followed two years later by their breakthrough album, THE TRINITY SESSIONS. Remarkably, the personnel in the band remains unchanged, as does their unique experimental lo-fi, alt-country sound.
Their modus operandi has also changed little over the decades. Michael Timmons, the eldest sibling, is the main songwriter and on this album much of the material considers mortality, ageing and survival. The opening track, What I Lost, (‘I woke up this morning, I didn’t know who I was’) is a passionate recollection of the last months of their father’s life as he struggled with dementia and memories of his full and adventurous life slipped away. Shadows 2, inspired by the D.H. Lawrence poem Shadows, also reflects on their father’s death and the bedside visits at those times.
David Bowie’s Five Years was the opening track on SFTR, and his influence can be heard on the stand-out track, Flood. With mortality and continuing survival as the recurring theme, it’s awash with gloriously distorted guitar alongside Margo’s crystal clear vocal. In contrast, the relative calmness of Circe And Penelope speaks of loss and remorse, amplified by aching violin. Its darkness and rawness are matched by the stripped-back and acoustic Hell Is Real. Hard to Make, Easy to Break, is driven by a thumping bass line and Hendrix-style guitar breaks and they close the album on a ruminative note with Blue Skies, a reminder that our dreams and ambitions are not always achievable and living in the moment is often a less challenging option.
With over twenty albums in their armoury, Cowboy Junkies’ elegant songwriting, classy arrangements, and Margo’s prime enunciation remain as striking and vital as ever. They have once more crystallised that signature sound on SUCH FEROCIOUS BEAUTY, with a thought-provoking collection of songs that touch on the grinding reality of life and the passage of time.
Declan Culliton
Hibsen, The Remedy Club, Rodney Crowell, Brennen Leigh, Roseanne Reid, Michelle Billingsley Music, Laura Cantrell, Tanya Tucker and Cowboy Junkies.