Yeehaw! Boston Bruins through to Round Two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Once again the hero was Patrice Bergeron who has ascended to a tie with Bobby Orr as my favourite hockey player of all time.
Anyway, there are still three gruelling rounds to go, but here’s hoping we end up winning one more game than we won last year.
Disc 1399 is…. Rivers & Vessels
Artist: Joan Shelley
Year of Release: 2018
What’s up with the Cover? I think it is Joan Shelley, if she were mostly composed of a collage of photos of rivers. This looks OK, with the exception of that Phantom of the Opera situation going on with her face.
How I Came To Know It: I’m a big fan of Joan Shelley so I’m always hungry for new music from her. I discovered this record while poking around her Bandcamp page. It is only available via download, so when I finally worked up the nerve to download music for the first time, this one ended up on my order list.
How It Stacks Up: I have five Joan Shelley albums (with two more
on my wishlist). “Rivers & Vessels” is really just a six-song EP, but I’m
counting it anyway. It comes in at number three.
Ratings: 4 stars
Listening to Joan Shelley sing is like lying down in a mountain glade; feeling peaceful and elevated at the same time. Her tone is sweet and rich like syrup, and yet retains its power even when she’s landing notes up so high they leave many singers gasping for air.
On “Rivers & Vessels” her voice takes centre-stage even more than usual. The songs are stripped down and rustic and speak of a simpler time when you could just sit on a porch and trade songs with the neighbours.
Shelley takes that notion to heart, with four of the six songs featuring other indie folk artists, including Doug Paisley and Bonnie Prince Billy (both noted because I have other albums by them). In each case, Shelley blends her vocals beautifully in with theirs, following that grand old bluegrass tradition where no one upstages anyone else. I’m particularly fond of her work with Julia Purcell on “Magnolia.” The song’s structure matches its title in both form and lyrics; a beautiful memory that opens like a flower.
Less pleasant, but equally engaging is the dark and foreboding, “The Bridge” featuring Bonny Prince Billy (who also employs Shelley on his records). he song is about a woman returning to a bridge that was once a place of happiness in her life. Now, pregnant and abandoned she opts to leap to her death. The song leaves you hanging with an abrupt:
"My feet are moving slowly and they’re closer to the edge
Here’s where I started, and here’s where I’ll end it”
As the song abruptly cuts off, it leaves you to imagine the tragic fall that follows.
The musicianship is also excellent, particularly the guitar picking on “Pretty Little Miss.” The guitar work is provided by both Shelley and Nathan Salsburg but I don’t know who does the heavy lifting here. Whoever it is nails it.
The album ends with “Silver Whistle” a traditional Jacobite tune about the return of the Bonnie Prince to Scotland (Charlie is the Bonnie Prince this time, not Billy). Like a lot of great Jacobite tunes it is a combination of mournful and defiant. Most of the music on the EP is Americana folk or bluegrass, and this last-minute switch to Gaelic folk music could have landed oddly. Instead, Shelley’s voice instantly transports you to the misty shores of Scotland. The tune is one of hope and mystery, as the singer waits anxiously for the King to set foot back home again (spoiler alert – it doesn’t go well for him). The tune lands much more successfully,
And then, less than twenty minutes in the album is over, doing exactly what a good album should – leaving you wanting more.
Best tracks: Time Has Told Me, Magnolia, Pretty Little Miss, Silver Whistle
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