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Author
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Topic: Review - Erin McKeown's "Distillation"
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Kevin Ott
True Believer
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posted 04-11-2001 03:17 AM
   
In her debut disc Distillation, singer/songwriter Erin McKeown leaves behind the maudlin trappings of her public-radio contemporaries to create an offering that’s upbeat yet thoughtful, happy-go-lucky yet unwavering in the seriousness of its emotion. Loaning her classical jazz-toned voice to a series of meandering lyrics and guitar riffs that alternate between penetrating and barely noticeable, McKeown has created an album that’s easy to leave in the player for days on end.Marked most memorably by playfully pointed jazz-and-blues tunes like “La Petite Mort” and “Love in 2 Parts,” Distillation works on other levels as well. Witness “Blackbirds,” the album’s standout song, a fairy tale that feels like pure magic: quote:
The queen she sang of milhaus rising to the sky
The king he sang of riches baked in a honey pie
Stick your finger in it, and taste it on the sly
Sing a song of sixpence, and a pocket full of rye.
The lonesome, demandingly haunting guitar in “Blackbirds” is accented by xylophone work reminiscent of some fantastic yet dangerous place, like the deep woods of Oz or caverns of Middle-Earth. This is a song that’s at its best in a car at 4 a.m., soundtracking a drive through a deserted canyon. It rocks and scares at the same time. “Fast As I Can” represents McKeown’s closest wanderings toward the typicality of contemporary singer/songwriter folk, drenched in emotion and second-person references. She pulls it off – the talk of success and love in “Fast As I Can” penetrates any of us who have yearned to do something and failed. Distillation seems wonderfully raw and untouched, as if each song was recorded on the first take. There’s a great feeling in “Blackbirds” that the song was recorded on the fly deep in a tunnel, and background hollers and calls pepper the disc. It all works nicely with the old-time feel of the disc, which, like McKeown herself in her flapper hairdo and cheap nylons, seems to go best with bathtub gin and burlesque. Don’t download these songs – buy the disc.
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Dave Thomer
Guardian of Peace and Justice in the Galaxy
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posted 04-14-2001 05:41 AM
Is there anywhere to sample complete tracks from this album? I swung over to Amazon to listen to the 30 second samples there, and I just didn't get it . . . the songs sounded to me like fragments that hadn't been pulled together or developed enough. That's probably a combination of stylistic preferences and my somewhat-untrained ear, and I'm willing to hear more, but what I have heard hasn't transported me anywhere. |
Kevin Ott
True Believer
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posted 06-11-2001 01:12 PM
I'll loan you the disc next time I see you. Erin is pretty low-key, and I think most of her exposure comes from alt stations and word-of-mouth. |
Kevin Ott
True Believer
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posted 06-13-2001 02:11 AM
I have to say, kids, I'm likin' this disc more and more. You know the ultra-cool feeling you get when you introduce a bunch of people to good music they've never heard before? Erin picked up some fans last weekend, and it made me like Distillation all that much more. You gotta hear "Didn't They?" and "You Mustn't Kick It Around" and "Love In Two Parts." Someone actually told me she loved me as she watched me dance to "Love In Two Parts," so I know I'm at my best when I listen to this stuff. |
Pattie Gillett
True Believer
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posted 07-10-2001 10:35 AM
WXPN has started playing this album a great deal(I think this is the same album) perhaps in anticipation of her visit to the Philly Singer Songwriter fest next weekend. (Of course, that's the weekend that Dave and I are away, bugger!)I like her melodies. The stripped down sound really grew on me. The station seems to like "Blackbirds" which I like for the guitar work. | |
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