It’s a blizzard out there! At
least what counts for a blizzard here on southern Vancouver Island. I enjoyed
the walk home in the snow with coworkers, but it took away listening time, so I
sat quietly and finished that process at home so I could write this review
tonight.
Disc 968 is…Resilience
Artist: Annabelle
Chvostek
Year of Release: 2008
What’s up with the Cover? It’s a Giant Head cover – so traditional!
As Giant Head’s go, Annabelle’s is nice.
How I Came To Know It: I knew Annabelle Chvostek from
the Wailin’ Jenny’s album “Firecracker” (reviewed back at Disc 450). I liked
that record so when she went solo on “Resilience” I bought it hoping for the
best.
How It Stacks Up: This is the only Annabelle Chvostek album I
have, so it can’t really stack up. Compared to other Wailin’ Jennys solo
projects, it is not my favourite.
Ratings: 2 stars
“Resilience”
is a mix of contemporary folk, Canadian-flavoured pop and a bit of jazz. There
isn’t anything objectively wrong with this mix, but I found it a bit unsettled;
like a gourmet meal with too many ingredients to appreciate any single one.
Maybe I’m just a meat and potatoes guy, musically speaking.
Chvostek
is supremely talented. She writes or cowrites all but one of the songs on the
record, and plays the fiddle, guitar, mandolin, accordion and piano. On the
title track she even does something called ‘beats’. I don’t know what it is but
it feels like some kind of folk version of hip hop. I couldn’t pick it out, but
“Resilience” is a good song, with a
nice slow building power and Chvostek showing off her vocal range.
Another
standout, is “The Sioux,” an old
school sounding track which offsets the title track’s florid production with a
starkly sawed fiddle capturing the rustic nature of the local First Nations’
reserve, and how it juxtaposes with the modern city of Sault St. Marie. It is a
thoughtful song, and a pretty one, with a timeless quality that makes you feel
like you’re standing outside of a log cabin despite the many modern references
woven through it.
Unfortunately,
most of the album didn’t capture my attention the way these two songs did. The
jazz flourishes around the edges of the songs take me out of the emotional core
which is so much a part of what I like about folk music. The choices aren’t
wrong for the songs so much as these songs just aren’t for me.
The core
melodies are pretty, and Chvostek sings it all beautifully, showing a good
understanding of how to come on and off the beat without losing the song’s
plot. Again, it wasn’t for me, but I can’t point to it as a fault so much of a
lack of preference.
On “Piece of You” and “Racing With the Sun” Chvostek sounds a bit too much like a lounge
singer, and when this happens I was drawn out of the record. Since I was having
a hard time emotionally connecting anyway, these tracks (which should provide
interesting range) instead felt like unwanted intrusions.
There
are jumpy songs that make your toe tap, like “Wait For It” and atmospheric dirges like “Firewalker” both of which are good songs, but made me think of
other albums I wanted to put on in their place.
The
album ends strong with “Nashville.” I
could hear a hundred songs dissing the Nashville experience and never get tired
of it. Chvostek’s entry into that welcome cannon is a good one. When she sings “oh, the grind” you can feel the sheer
weight of all the crushed dreamers playing for tips up and down Honky Tonk row.
Despite
this, I have to face up to the fact that I’ve had this album for at least eight
years, and I almost never think to put it on. I occasionally play “the Sioux” as a one-off, but that’s
about it. An artist like Chvostek deserves better, so I am going to reluctantly
part with this record and let it go to a home that will love it better than I
do.
Best
tracks: Resilience,
The Sioux, Nashville
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