Tuesday 21 March 2017

Carrie Elkin - The Penny Collector, album review

Confidence Prevails

This is a classy americana album, and it is mostly in the perfectly crisp and clear vocal of Elkin - I could namecheck 4 to 5 top country/americana female vocalists as similars and as fraework of excellence, but won't.

On opener New Mexico I actually do hear Judy Collins, but not in the timbre of the singing - rather the song itself: there is an echo of another, but again I think this is simply its quality, the background wail of a guitar, the acoustic guitar pluck, and the occasional gentle male vocal accompaniment providing, as with the rest of the album, a restrained but pertinent support.

It is all good. Second Always on the Run again displays Elkin's beautiful voice, front and centre clarity, a slow strut of a rhythm marching it forward. Crying Out is more delicate, a fine acoustic guitar base, then violin and cello just enough prettiness without over-orchestrating. The simplest of a sweetly sung cover of Paul Simon's American Tune showcases the perfection of Elkin's voice, strings here again, perhaps not necessary this time, but once more not overdone.

This is one of those confident listens from the very start. Do you know what I mean?


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