The Wasted Ocean - Anna Coogan Album Review

Anna Coogan

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Album Review

Seattle songstress Anna Coogan channels her passion for all things aquatic on this blissful slice of contemplative folk. Growing up surrounded by the musical traditions of maritime New England, Coogan followed her idyllic childhood by becoming a whitewater kayaker and then a fisheries biologist. It impregnated her soul with a lifelong love for classical sea shanties and songs of the maritime East Coast, enthralled by their haunting tales of shipwrecks and isolation. After touring her critically acclaimed 2010 debut disc 'The Nocturnal Among Us' Anna returned to Seattle to craft a delicate album weaving together the eternal imagery of the eerie ocean with the secret stories forever sailing on it's seven seas.

Ten years earlier, Coogan quit a career as an opera singer after hearing blue grass legend and Led Zep groupie (possibly...) Alison Krauss. Today, her voice reflects the ethereal beauty of Ms Krauss rather than Montserrat Caballe's melodrama as it swoons lovingly over every lyric, breathing truth into every soulful syllable. Producer Evan Brubaker (Rachel Harrington) helps create a sparse, richly textured backdrop courtesy of Coogan's acoustic, electric and Nashville guitars accompanied by banjos, mandolins, organs and violins. It's always amazing when an album's notes list a boat load of instruments yet the sound remains perfectly uncluttered and tranquil.

'The Sons will join their Fathers' is a minor, mournful opener recalling Laura Marling in ruined reflective mode. 'Come the Wind, Come the Rain' is closest to a traditional celtic ditty with Coogan's solitary voice backed by a lone violin sounding suspiciously like bagpipes! 'Hold Steady, Hold Tight' is a breezy pastoral pop tune delivering a tuneful, upbeat refrain. However, the albums piece de resistance is a cover of 'The Crucifixion', an eight minute opus by Phil Ochs. The only problem is the brilliance of Ochs' parallels between the deaths of JFK and Jesus Christ as he highlights a 'cycle of sacrifice' leaves Anna's own wordplay looking wan by comparison.

Overall, 'Wasted Ocean' is a superb voyage carried by a strong, centred yet fragile vocal performance. If beautiful mermaids emerged from the sea singing their soul's song they'd sound exactly like Anna Coogan.

Simon Ramsay