Brooke Waggoner
(Brooke Waggoner)
No bait-and-switch here -- Brooke Waggoner's second full-length release sounds exactly like what you'd expect from something titled Go Easy Little Doves. The sort of song cycle that opens with not one but two wispy instrumentals, the album is 12 pieces of piano-based chamber pop, with such high-school-poetess titles as "Meek; Wild" and "Go Easy Little Doves, I'll Be Fine." The cover even shows the newlywed Waggoner, a classically trained Nashville resident, in a lace, floor-length gown that evokes another century -- and I don't mean the 20th.
Waggoner wrote, produced and orchestrated the music, and if her sensibility is a little precious, her skill is undeniable. The arrangements rely mostly on symphonic instruments, but a few of the songs have a pop pulse, thanks in part to bassist Butterfly Boucher. "Femmes" in particular offsets the twirling strings with a lively thump and intricate yet driving multi-tracked vocals. "Cleanse the palate, Cleanse the palate," Waggoner sings, and the song does provide a reasonably earthy contrast on an album whose titular doves might be spun-sugar wedding-cake decorations.
Standout Tracks: "Femmes," "Go Easy Little Doves, I'll Be Fine" MARK JENKINS
