It has been an interesting music year for the Otago Daily Times reviewers. Today, Shane Gilchrist shares his top albums for 2011 and one to watch.
The Unthanks. Last
Recorded at a Northumberland farmhouse as, allegedly, snow fell fast and thick outside, the Unthanks' latest album is both intimate and epic. Sisters Becky and Rachel Unthank and Rachel's husband, Adrian McNally, have produced a gentle masterpiece that manages to be uplifting despite its largely melancholy mood. Building on earlier albums of largely traditional works (albeit with a Gothic twist), their latest employs a warm approach in which pianos drift in staccato phrases and strings sweep behind the main melody. To the fore, as ever, are the haunting vocal harmonies of the Unthank sisters, who sing of hope, uncertain futures and the past.
Hurray For The Riff Raff. Self-titled
Though disaffected youth has long been a well from which has sprung musical significance, genuine teen voices have been hijacked of late. Thus a warm welcome is extended to American Alynda Lee Segarra, who left New York at 17, hopping trains as means to explore her country's nether regions before gathering together a small group of like-minded musicians and recording a couple of low-profile albums, from which the best material has been collated for the group's international debut. Dusty folk instrumentation (acoustic guitars, banjos and seemingly battered pianos) lay down a bare-bones foundation over which Segarra huskily croons melodies evoking both Kerouac readings and the drunk-tanks of the marginalised.
The Waterboys. An Appointment with Mr Yeats
Bombastic, ambitious and pretentious it may seem, but the Waterboys' reworking of the words of venerated Irish poet W.B. Yeats into a 14-song rock album deserves a standing ovation. From distorted guitar vamping (The Hosting Of The Shee, A Full Moon in March) to waves of organ (Song of Wandering Aengus) that would make Rick Wakeman weep with joy, Waterboys key man Mike Scott has realised a 20-year vision of turning old words into new art. Long-time fans of the band's Celtic strains can relax, too; there is still fiddle, harmony and lamentation amid the power chords.
ONE TO WATCH: The Unfaithful Ways
Free Rein, the debut album from this Christchurch quartet, is a confident (but not cocky) ramble through rustic country terrain that at times takes on Byrds-ish harmonic highlights, an ambition helped considerably by the fact three of the band used to share choirboy duties some years back.
Glistening lead guitar work by Sebastian Warne and a vocal range to match from frontman Marlon Williams (his rendition of Townes Van Zandt's Snow Don't Fall is stunningly assured) lifts this well beyond Americana mimicry.
