two minds but a single thought.
On ‘7 deadly spins’ and ‘Uneven ground’, the two previous albums by Canadian singer-songwriter Lynne Hanson, the country influences of her four earlier discs had disappeared and rootsy guitars dominated in often evocative melodies that effectively underlined her ominous lyrics.
This was also caused by her somewhat hoarse voice and the phlegmatic way in which she sang the many ballads, creating a intriguing distance between content and form.
Because of that it is surprising that Hanson again combines roots and country in the eleven songs of her seventh album without merging them.
Although her electric guitars, those of producer Jim Bryson and master guitarist Kevin Breit determine all songs, Nashville’s smooth melodies resonate in opener ‘True blue moon’, ‘Clean slate’, ‘Such a random thing’ and ‘Hemingway’s songbird’ and Hanson’s lyrics also seem to have been written with more distance.
The other songs are not only more bare, they are also more stubborn, especially because of Breit’s cross solos, which seem to allow themselves to be restrained only hardly.
Then the music more roughly sketches the atmosphere of Hanson’s seemingly autobiographical lyrics: the price you pay for falling in love too quickly, the self-chosen loneliness that follows, the scars left by derogatory remarks or the memory of the mild numbness of alcohol.
Still, the lyrics of all Hanson’s eleven new songs are thematically related, as she takes stock of her life to find the strength to continue.
***1/2