Categories : Country + Western, Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3.5/5 Released: May 30, 2006 Reviewer: David Coats |
Amy Millan is one of Canada’s best and most versatile vocalists. Most famous for her contributions to Stars and Broken Social Scene, Millan’s voice is ideal for alternative pop, which is why Honey From The Tombs may come as a surprise to many listeners, with its combination of genres, including rock, country, jazz, folk, and bluegrass. The question, therefore, is whether Millan’s beautifully smooth, rich voice is weather-beaten enough to convincingly perform songs about lost love and whiskey.
Millan and producer Ian Blurton do a stellar job of arranging the songs to best adapt them to Millan’s style and capabilities, perhaps most overtly on the acoustic blues of ‘Hard Hearted (Ode To Thoreau)’. This song, like much of the record, sees minimal percussion, making for a cleaner background for Millan to sing against; it employs the use of a male backing vocalist which serves to sufficiently muddy up the sound in a way that Millan can’t on her own; and Millan lazily drifts through the melody line, giving it a more vulnerable, organic feel. Millan’s songwriting is a pleasant surprise, as she knows how to write both a folk melody and lyric (for example, “Your eyes are like burned out headlightsâ€). Other highlights include the moody, atmospheric ‘Skinny Boy’ (featuring BSS personnel Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew, and Charles Spearin), the rousing mandolin of ‘Blue In Yr Eye’, and the trumpet-infused bridge of ‘Wayward and Parliament’, the record’s shining creative moment, while other songs (‘Losin’ You’) are beautiful in their simplicity.
To say the least, Honey From The Tombs is adventurous, and Millan deserves credit for taking the risks she does; she generally makes it work, but for all her skill and versatility, this is probably as far as she should go in this musical direction.
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