Review: Ellen Woloshin – Water Into Wine
It’s always a rocky, often long and drawn out road to tread, when a songwriter who has penned numbers for the likes of Dionne Warwick, sets out alone. New York resident, Ellen Woloshin seems to be making steady progress, as is confirmed in her new eleven track forage. Opening up with harmless and longing string spiked mini-epic, ‘Making My Way Back (To Free)’ that’s friendly if a little unadventurous. More body and vocal echo that disperses a searching narrative with cold clarity is deftly applied for ‘Joanna’. A winding instrumental spread gives hope to cushion the delicately dealt blows of the fatalistic lyrics:
“Something’s you just can’t change, you can turn every stone; you can try your hardest.
The tear in your soul remains and there’s nothing to do except cry your heart out.’
Flitting from the haunting touch of Belinda Carlisle to the more colourful nod of Donna Lewis that is backed to the hilt, by an expressive and occasionally rising backing band, this album builds up in range, as the intrigue factor keeps on ticking over. ‘Where Does All The Time Go ’, uses a partly harrowing and wandering key trickle to build up to the hovering alto vocals that speak of a worldly wisdom, promoting a positive outlook no matter what stage of life you’re in. Caressing backing vocals helps to make it warming, as well as serious and reflective. Pleading touches litter the album with a fleeting sense of urgency that contrasts with the often leisurely and composed vocal gait. A patting percussion pushed and stirringly charming run through The Beatles classic ‘We Can Work It Out’, illuminates Ellen’s ability to add life and her own slant to thoughtful numbers from bygone pop days.
‘Just Come Home’, scatters out soulful defiance that seeps into the masterfully sung ‘Let It Go Now’, as a free spirit starts to grow. Woloshin is continuing to embolden in her song-writing flame that contains enough spirit, a little gusto, plenty of personality and a charming poetic resonance to help her make her own mark.
The Longcut – Open Hearts
The Longcut’s name reminds me of hand-roll cigarettes. The only guy I ever saw hand-roll a cigarette was a ratty punk who wore sandals every day of the year. Whatever.
Stuart Ogilvie loves to yell monotonously. That’s the first thing you’ll notice on The Longcut’s new album, Open Hearts. Next, you’ll notice the rollicking square waves and the righteous weighty guitars. But Ogilvie will be first. That’s because he sounds like he’s calling the kids in for dinner on every single track.
Open Hearts has a beautiful range of sounds, from the fuzzy-mud synths of “Out At The Roots” to the clever, smirking guitar on “Mary Bloody Sunshine,” all with differing flavors of allure; “Do I dance, or do I sulk?” The group’s three members initially planned to keep the musical endeavor purely instrumental after their vocalist jumped ship and Ogilvie’s brash, boring vocals leave me wondering why they chose to divert from that idea.
Regina Spektor – Far
I’ve never spent much time listening to Regina Spektor, so this won’t be much of a retrospective piece. Nor have I had the worst of luck lately, so this can’t be a very bitter piece. It’s for those reasons that this review is so glowing, or is it that Regina Spektor’s new album Far on Sire is really just that good, heeding no reason for “looking backs” or “fuck you’s.”
The album is chock full of shrill coos, fake New York accents, and well-written piano pieces. Some are happier, some are sadder; but they’re all pretty fucking good. Or at least they fall somewhere near neutral – “Blue Lips” – so as not to take away from the others. Choruses on “Eet” and “Human of the Year” showcase Spektor’s perfectly awkward high-pitch pipes while songs like “Folding Chair” let you know how carefree (reckless?) Regina is with her songwriting (“I’ve got a perfect body/Because my eyelashes catch my sweat.”), accompanied by poppy piano-drum duets.
And it should be noted that nothing on the album sounds like “Machine.”Whether it’s a sunny afternoon or a rainy 7am before your daily indentured servitude, Far is an album worth hearing, even if it doesn’t make it into your top-ten albums of all time list (which, if you have, you may be trying too hard). Spektor doesn’t seem intent on breaking barriers or amassing an army of fans, and this is what makes her delightfully middle-of-the-road songs just above OK.
Patrick Wolf – The Bachelor
Patrick Wolf played every single instrument on his new release, The Bachelor. His “avant-garde” style is more in the vein of an artist completely comfortable with his identity. Violins on “Hard Times” live in harmony with the digitalization of “Count of Casualty,” all cemented by the brooding tonality of Wolf’s stories.
The album plays more like a musical opera, but still keeps its sensibilities with songs enjoyable on an individual level. Anyone willing to go on a musical journey would do well to spend some time with Patrick Wolf. And if you just don’t have enough time, listen to the album’s flagship song, “The Bachelor.”