Kathryn Williams
(One Little Indian)
Kathryn Williams has quietly amassed a significant body of work, work that is quiet itself but that is often devastatingly emotional. Through eleven years and eight albums (including her collaboration with Neil MacColl on 2008's Two), Williams has told small, precise stories, foregrounding a gentle finger-picked guitar and her intimate, often childlike voice. The British singer-songwriter has earned a Mercury Prize nomination (for 2000's Little Black Numbers) and many Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake comparisons.
Those comparisons are still valid on The Quickening, her first solo album since 2006's Leave To Remain, but the album also offers subtle variations from her past work; it rewards careful listening. Recorded quickly, with a flexible and adventurous band, the album works with a broad palette while still favoring understatement and pastel hues. Opener "50 White Lines" is a road song set to a rolling rhythm and a backing voice counting the white lines, the repetitiveness mimicking the hypnotic effect of night driving. "Black Oil," on the other hand, floats on minimal, spacious piano chords and spectral backing vocals, like a Keren Ann song. Elsewhere, light electronics burble, an upright bass plays lead, mandolin and banjo trade lines. Overall, however, the core is the same: Williams singing intimate songs in a fragile voice, with everything thoughtful and restrained (perhaps too restrained over the course of the album).
"Sad songs don't sound so sad in the sun," Williams sings to begin "Just a Feeling." Set to interlocking lines of beautifully layered guitars and vibraphone, the song sounds one of the album's few false notes: it-like the rest of The Quickening-- is gorgeously sad no matter what the weather or time of day.
Standout Tracks: "Just a Feeling," "Wanting and Waiting" STEVE KLINGE
