Asking For Flowers - Kathleen Edwards Album Review
Kathleen Edwards: link
Album Review
If there’s ever going to be a musical equivalent of Neil Young, then Kathleen Edwards is the one. Like Young she’s Canadian. Like Young she’s almost from the same vocal stable, a shaky tremble. And, she’s one of the few Canadian natives who are seeping out Americana to beat the Yanks at their own game. The genre is country/folk based and in this case, it’s not alternative, being far more mainstream, a bit like Cerys Matthews’ wonderful wanderings on Cockahoop. Peculiarly, there are shades of Cerys’ teenage lilt here and there too. Her body of work on Asking For Flowers is typically solid enough, consolidating her songwriting skills with bags of depth, credibility and style. It’s far more rootsier than you’d imagine, sustaining enough accessibility without selling her soul. As for single opportunities to push her in the UK, they’re very a bit limited (there are a couple), so Edwards may never become a household name. A pity, because she has a lot to offer. Nevertheless, anyone sufficiently interested should take her as singer-songwriter who’s going to be around for a long, long time.
Asking for Flowers is a real grower -the more you spin it, the more you find. Edwards has a neat knack of swinging from ballads to mid-paced power ballads to rockers with alarming ease relating stories of hope, resignation, humour, death, unconditional love and brazen inequality. It opens with Buffalo, a pedal steel drenched beauty complete with soaring chorus, whereas she rocks it up for The Cheapest Key a really catchy tune. Asking For Flowers, a swaying mid-paced ballad is a tale of undervalue and resentment. Of all the songs here, I Make The Dough… is the most ‘obvious’ country song: a sure fire shuffle again drenched by the faithful old pedal steel (Greg Leisz) that would make good single. Another single contender could be mellow rocker Run. Driving rocker Oh Canada shows Edwards has an edge too with Colin Cripps delivering some sharp solos. Best of them all is the acoustic driven Scared In The Night.
File under: Could be big with plenty of airplay.
