Abigail Lapell is a Canadian folk songwriter who sings haunting modern folk songs. She’s won three Canadian Folk Music Awards including English Songwriter of the Year and Contemporary Album of the Year reaching number one on Canadian folk radio and over 48 million streams across digital platforms. Abigail Lapell`s latest album `Shadow Child` is released this month and was written during pregnancy, a nine-song cycle with each song reflecting a month of pregnancy that approaches motherhood in an understated way, avoiding sentimentality.
The album begins with `Whistle Song (One In A Million)` which explores themes of loss and resilience. As indicated by the title, this contemplative and ethereal piece features whistling, complemented by vocals that exhibit an appealing sense of vulnerability. The lyrics give thanks for the child that is residing within the narrator, for the one she lost and a nod towards the joys to come and the mysteries that surround this arrival. Three-time Juno award winning Canadian singer-songwriter Jill Barber adds her vocals to `Hazel` a musing on Abigail’s unborn child and childhood memories which includes a short fragment of the nursery rhyme `Ride a Cock-Horse to Banbury Cross`. A simple offering made more poignant with the addition of a vibraphone adding it`s subtle percussive strokes.
I`ve always loved Canadian singer-songwriter and actress Frazey Ford and have seen her solo and with the folk, country, and bluegrass trio Be Good Tanyas and Frazey joins Abigail on the title track `Shadow Child`. A gentle submission that includes a theremin and ends with the sound of a baby`s heartbeat through I assume a fetal Doppler or ultrasound.
Dana Sipos, a Canadian singer songwriter originally from Hamilton, Ontario is a longtime collaborator known for crafting music that is both intimate and otherworldly and adds her talents to `Mockingbird`. It’s a thoughtful peace which opens with a chirping mockingbird. A mockingbird signifies innocence and harmlessness. The bird sings beautifully and does not disrupt the surroundings but adds beauty to it, similar to this tender offering.
`Talking To Myself` is stripped back and sparse with piano, vocals, and a haunting cello. A snippet of recorder midway breaks up the piece and gives it a slight ethereal almost Celtic vibe. An acoustic guitar leads us into and guides us through `Little Cannibal` a number that hints at trepidation of the life to follow. The addition of congas and thrashed guitar in the latter section adds another kind of rhythm to this composition.
`So Long` has Pharis Romero from Canadian folk music duo Pharis & Jason Romeo, most noted as four-time Juno Award winners for Traditional Roots Album of the Year join. The track opens with waves hitting the shoreline and I read is a ballad of maritime tragedy and reproductive choice. It had a slightly melancholic country tinged almost gospel like texture. The title of `Mother Tongue` would suggest the first language a person learns at home during childhood and it kind of does but is more family focused and hints at Abigails life on the road balanced with her motherhood. The double vocals allow it a sweet melodic feel and the number ends with a baby crying, whom I assume is Abigail`s own son.
The album closes out with `Sing A Rainbow` a nursery rhyme written by Athur Hamilton who also wrote `Cry Me a River`. The song was chosen in part to complete the nine-song cycle, but also because it references the term “rainbow baby,” a child that comes after a loss. I have to be honest and say it`s a song that i`m not a fan of as its too saccharine for my tastebuds but appreciate it`s significance and importance here.
At first when I read that `Shadow Child` related to pregnancy I thought this could be really maudlin and what does a man whose fathered no children and is racing towards seventy know about this subject and could contribute anything of significance or worth. But after listening to the first track, I was blown away and totally engrossed in what followed. Lyrically it’s a little surreal and not quite what you’d expect but that voice, WOW!! Abigail has also gathered the cream of Canadian music to join her on certain tracks, all British Columbians, and all mothers.
I have to say that `Shadow Child` totally blew me away and as its my first inroad to Abigail Lapell`s musical world, I`m overjoyed at the thought that I have at least six previous albums along with EPs to explore. Abigail heads out on a UK & European Tour in November with six dates in the UK and that is certainly something to look forward to.
Rating 9/10
