Erin McKeown - 'Distillation' (Nettwerk America)
3/5
By: Toby L
A bejazzled Beth Orton? A folked-up Ella Fitzgerald? Either concoction, there's a mystique here that belies McKeown's potential contemporaries and influences alike.
And that lurks within a razor-sharp wit, and a customary lyrical sensibility that extends beyond the general theme commonly adopted by such similarly-aged singer-songwriter types of, 'Oh, come back to me, you wretched fiend'; take 'The Little Cowboy', for instance, where her warming howl and croak of a voice manages to make the practice of consuming cocaine as a wondrous joy (some music-industry types would no doubt agree).
Yet when the display is less than comedic - the gently soothing 'Daisy and Prudence' - or simply tougher to tie down - the intricate opening of 'Queen Of Quiet', with its separate sections - the effect is as equally as radiant, a slice of melancholy that never proves infectious from performer to listener, resulting in an immediate relationship-bond that extends beyond the typical, moaning acoustic-guitar bearer.
Granted - it would benefit from grander contrasts in parts, and when the inevitable wail-a-long finally arrives - a blissful 'How To Open My Heart In Four Easy Steps' - it's suitably compelling. And all displayed from a self-produced debut-record too; not to patronise McKeown, but this could mark the start of a very fine talent being unveiled in two fashions rarely seen - intimately, and openly: forms that the scene too often presently lacks.
Artists in this article: Erin McKeown
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