Kathryn Williams [Old Low Light]
This album was a lovely revelation today, i went to the park to write in my Journal today, and i took this disc with me, it's only the second time i've played it, the first time i felt 'hey!, there's really something special here', but on a first listen you just can't truly peel away the layers properly, but on a second listen it starts to reveal its beauty, there's a promotional sticker on the front of the plastic case which says 'a sly little fox of an album' from Q Magazine, and that really sums it up, it slyly slips into your heart in an unnoticeable way, it doesn't grab you by the lapels and beat you into submission, the third listen should be phenomenal, here we have an album that could become truly cherishable to me.
Kathryn Williams was born in 1974 in Liverpool England, making her 37 now, she released this album in 2002, it's her third album, i take it the cover photograph [by Margaret Williams] is of herself with her Mother, so must have been late Seventies, one of those matte / vinyl type holiday snaps, i like it, it's as unassuming as the album, a clever creative shot with lots of interest, and a 'faraway / yesterday' feel to it.
So on to the music, like i mentioned before, certain tracks take more time than others to 'conquer', but already my faves seem to be tracks 3 & 5, and i can see others begin to reveal up their treasures, it's a very acoustic album, i find it has parallels with Natalie Merchant's Tigerlily, the acoustic Double Bassist Jonny Bridgwood seems to have a prominent place on the album, and there's a tendency to hear Jazz instrumentation here and there [though not Jazz music particularly], so let me give a synopsis of these two tracks,
3 Mirrorball - this is my favourite track so far, there's a 4 second percussive intro, barely audible, but when the piano / bass / percussion instruments start, it's like a lovely explosion of melody [0:00-0:14], a tremendous start to the song, Kathryn Williams voice is soft and mesmerizing, the percussion perfectly compliments the lyrics / voice, like a wheel ticking away with something gently striking the spokes, lovely acoustic guitar, you can hear the influences of Nick Drake, where she dips into the minor key, the second verse is another lovely kick [2:02+], and the opening lyrics are meaningful and esoteric, 'moonlight is so overrated, complete darkness is so embracive', you can hear the fingers moving on the guitar fret [2:28+], right at the end the piano along with the percussion takes us out on a down to silence outro [4:43-5:06].
5 Daydream And Saunter - here's the track where the Double Bassist must have learnt a trick or two from Jazz, a lazy yet very acoustic intro [0:00-0:26], there's a delicious reverberant twang at [0:06-0:08] absolutely stunning!, with an atmospheric muted trumpet from Graham Hardy, 'i know there's no more in you than you',
3 Mirrorball - this is my favourite track so far, there's a 4 second percussive intro, barely audible, but when the piano / bass / percussion instruments start, it's like a lovely explosion of melody [0:00-0:14], a tremendous start to the song, Kathryn Williams voice is soft and mesmerizing, the percussion perfectly compliments the lyrics / voice, like a wheel ticking away with something gently striking the spokes, lovely acoustic guitar, you can hear the influences of Nick Drake, where she dips into the minor key, the second verse is another lovely kick [2:02+], and the opening lyrics are meaningful and esoteric, 'moonlight is so overrated, complete darkness is so embracive', you can hear the fingers moving on the guitar fret [2:28+], right at the end the piano along with the percussion takes us out on a down to silence outro [4:43-5:06].
5 Daydream And Saunter - here's the track where the Double Bassist must have learnt a trick or two from Jazz, a lazy yet very acoustic intro [0:00-0:26], there's a delicious reverberant twang at [0:06-0:08] absolutely stunning!, with an atmospheric muted trumpet from Graham Hardy, 'i know there's no more in you than you',
Here's some samples from the album from the Kazaa website.
