Wonderfully evocative singer/songwriter makes long awaited return
The birth of your first child and the death of a parent.
There can’t be two more diametrically opposed events in a person’s life. And when they happen within the space of a year, that must be truly confusing.
Having the gift to put both those emotions onto one album is a wonderful one, and perhaps only a true poet could.
Carrie Elkin used those two seismic emotional occurrences as the basis for her first solo album – it is her sixth in all – in a while – and indeed “The Penny Collector” is a direct reference to her late father’s hobby – and she has channelled it into something very special.
“And Then The Birds Came” deals directly with her dads death and the emotion is palpable in both her voice and the song and really, the rawness of it all is perfect.
If that is the obvious – and you hate to use this word in this context – highlight, then the rest of “…Collector” has much to offer. “New Mexico” takes us right into the Prairie, and the evocative lyrics are more poetry set to music than anything else.
From the widescreen Americana of the opener, the almost bluesy “Always On The Run” is another that tells a fine story. The music here – there is a stellar cast including Elkin’s husband Danny Schmidt, who provides brilliant harmony vocals, producer Neilson Hubbard on drums and the talented Will Kimbrough on guitar – complements her voice superbly.
“Albatross” is different again, a rootsy folk thing it is predominantly Elkin and an acoustic, a theme maintained on the longing contained in “Crying Out.”
Not a record to get too bothered about expectations, preferring instead to forge its own path. There’s more than a touch of Nanci Griffith about “Live Wire” – which tells the tale of a girl seeking fulfilment and excitement, but is seemingly unable to find it, while the piano work on “Tilt A Whirl” give that one a real mournful quality and the simple “My Brother Said” is the type of thing that Steve Earle might do on one of his later records.
The way Ellkin paints a picture is striking. “Niagara” with its key line “like the years on her skin, it all happened so fast” is another that finds a new angle on things and the only one here that isn’t self-penned, Paul Simon’s “American Tune” is made her own.
Interesting too, that the last song here is the shortest. “Lamp Of The Body” combines a claustrophobic feel with some intricate vocal patterns – all in the space of just over two minutes.
“The Penny Collector” is a record that you sense Carrie Elkin needed to make personally. That she made it so universal is testament to her fine abilities.
Rating 8.5/10
