Yukon-based singer-songwriter Kim Beggs releases her seventh album, `Beneath Your Skin` this month, a collection of new material exploring familial history, survival, and the natural world. The artist travelled to Montreal to record this album with Howard Bilerman (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Leonard Cohen, The Weather Station) at Hotel2Tango studios. The album has Kim on acoustic guitars and stomp board, Lilah Larson on electric guitar, bass and drums, and Charlotte Cornfield on electric guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards. Along with Mike O’Brien on electric guitar,
The wonderfully titled `Ragged in the Frozen Mist` leads us in and it`s a delightfully observational musing on the oncoming autumnal season and possibly a metaphor for somebody close who is physically absent. Title track `Beneath Your Skin` hints at untold secrets that seem buried deep, shared by vocals that have an aching vibrancy to them.
`Ain’t It Hard, Ain’t It Hard` is a kind of reverie on a relationship that has its ups and downs but endures these bumps in the road. We have in `Bury Me Inside Your Heart` an ode or love song to the outdoors or our natural environment and something we all usually take for granted.
`You Been Down My Road` (co-written with Shad Blair and Dieter Weise) appears to be a recognition of those that have influenced the artist through their “words and melody.” Shawnee Kilgore co-wrote `House for Slaughter` which is a subtle but powerful number that hints at environmental destruction and damage.
`A Little Sideways` is a wistful reminisce on simpler times of growing up in humble surroundings, a first love, moving away and finally reconnecting with that first love although circumstances in fortune have reversed but that love still endures through difficult times. Appreciation for those who have supported the singer on her journey through many years of artistic endeavour is expressed in the meditative `Mostly, I Am Making Friends Across This Land`
`Alive and Well in My Dreams`, is a touching offering where the narrator turns to dreams to imagine friends and family who are not sick and suffering but alive and well while they, themselves, are searching for the meaning of life. There`s a similar familial recollection on the almost haunting `Miles & Miles Away`.
`Little Tin Cup` is a rhythmic chronicle of the life on the road for a musical troubadour while `Snakes and Butterflies` seems to be another tale of the touring circuit but with an eye on one`s final inevitable destination, a tender quite compelling listen.
The album closes out with `Down by the River Where the People Gather` which tells of a kind of musical get-together but appears to be more about meeting like minded souls where reassurance, comfort and camaraderie can be assured.
I read that Kim Beggs shares dark, folksy Americana which infuses sad, wistful storytelling and yes there`s that but for me there`s much, so much more. The songs have at times a kind of simple melancholic feel but really draw you into their multi layers and depths. The lyrical content is wonderfully observational but leaves you contemplating subjects that you`d usually barely glance at. There`s intensity but balanced with a lightness shared throughout. A throwaway quip on one of the sites I visited said “eleven-time music award nominee and ne’er a winner!,” let`s hope that `Beneath Your Skin` is the one that changes all that.
Rating 9 / 10
