Amelia White - Beautiful and Wild

Familiarity Breeds Content

Amelia White’s album Beautiful and Wild is a pleasing addition to the female singer/songwriting pool, especially as it is unmuddied by the vocal penchant for nasal-and-other-noises affectation that sullies so many other contemporary songstresses [a critical penchant of my own].

It is folk/Americana/country and therefore familiar, but it is a pleasing familiarity in its sustained fine quality. Sixth track Mercy is a good place to start because its gospel chorus and vocals above the steel/slide guitar add that little bit of difference to this already mixed genre. I like that confident variety. There is a strong echo/influence of Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris in three early tracks - Lonely Sound, Beautiful and Wild, Saxophone Train – and this too is a pleasant familiarity. Second track Sidewalks is quite beautiful.

There is an interesting cover of More Than This, a song I have always liked until it became infected by knowledge of Ferry’s moronic political proclivities [this too is a critical penchant, and a burden], the song slowed surprisingly and the melody therefore revealing itself subtly in that crawl.

There are rockier tracks as well [opener Skeleton Key is quite funky], but it is the more folk-paced ones that have grabbed my aural appreciation. I think this is a grower as repeated listens absorb and then build upon its soft subtleties and familiarities.