Posts Tagged: catherine feeny

1996 / 4 stars / june is for women / reviews / sarah mclachlan — No Comments
24
Jun 09

Surfacing (1996) by Sarah McLachlan

sarah mclachlan surfacing

Sarah McLachlan
Surfacing
1996, Nettwerk/Arista
piano pop
4½

Surfacing was Sarah McLachlan’s fourth album, but it still stands as her most popular album to date. This was the one that earned her her Grammy’s, but in comparison to her previous albums, Surfacing falls short. Both “Sweet Surrender” and “Building A Mystery” lacked that essential honesty that once endeared McLachlan’s previous blatantly pop songs to her listeners. The one single from this album that defied this change was “Angel,” which is probably the most profound song McLachlan has ever written and will ever write. The beauty of that previous statement is that the song required only a piano and its lyrics to be that memorable. One would think that McLachlan would learn from that lesson and apply it to the other songs in Surfacing or even in her newer work since then, but she has stubbornly remained in her over-produced-pop rut. At least we have “Angel” to make this album easier to swallow.

“Do What You Have To Do,” “Adia,” “Angel.”
myspace, last.fm
Catherine Feeny’s Hurricane Glass, Rachael Yamagata’s Elephants… Teeth Sinking Into Heart

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2008 / 4 stars / june is for women / rachael yamagata / reviews — No Comments
21
Jun 09

Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart (2008) by Rachael Yamagata

rachael yamagata elephants teeth sinking into heart

Rachael Yamagata
Elephants… Teeth Sinking Into Heart
2008, Warner Bros.
pop, acoustic, blues rock
4½

In an interesting turn of events, Rachael Yamagata’s sophomore album is split into two distinctive style and records. The first, Elephants, is similar to her debut Happenstance in that it is filled with dark, moody ballads, while the second, Teeth Sinking Into Heart, has a harder rock sound and a faster tempo. Yamagata’s gritty contralto of course shines poignantly in Elephants, but the true surprise is that her voice is actually better suited to the harder Teeth. Yamagata could have easily pacified her fans and created new listeners had she simply released Elephants, but Teeth… was a brilliant move on her part. Each song on the second record is just as carefully written, constructed, and sung as the songs in the first, but the second record reveals a nearly unbridled Yamagata; she almost sounds like Pink in “Faster.” Teeth is so good, I wish it were longer – but I’ll have to content myself with waiting for her third album.

“Accident,” “Duet,” “Faster.”
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Stephanie Dosen’s A Lily For the Spectre, Catherine Feeny’s Hurricane Glass

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2007 / 5 stars / brandi carlile / reviews — No Comments
10
Dec 08

The Story (2007) by Brandi Carlile

Genre: folk rock
Rating:
“Again Today,” “Josephine,” “Losing Heart,” and “The Story.”
myspace, last.fm
Catherine Feeny’s Hurricane Glass, Amy Macdonald’s This is the Life

With a voice that evokes comparisons to Melissa Etheridge and Stevie Nicks and songs that are richly lyrical, it’s little wonder that I fell in love with Brandi Carlile at first listen. She is truly a ‘voice of a generation,’ even if that generation could be better compared to the 1970s than the early 2000s. Regardless, I found myself moved not only by her mastery of her vocal talent, but by the underlying hint that she doesn’t take herself as seriously as most female singer/songwriters do.

This album, in itself, is a dream. Most of the songs have to do with lost love, but even those songs are versatile enough to apply to nearly anything in life. What’s also surprisingly versatile is Carlile’s voice. Etheridge and Nicks are better known for their screams and voice, respectively, but Carlile carries a harmony like no one’s business and manages to do it well. Had she imitated Catherine Feeny and kept her voice at a monotone, this album would have surely suffered for it. But she doesn’t seem capable of it, so songs that should be boring are rich with life. This is yet another amazing discovery in the ever-changing folk rock scene of today.

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