Written by Ed Price, posted by Jason
OFFICIAL: www.hm-music.com
OFFICIAL: www.hm-music.com
FACEBOOK:
www.facebook.com/HumphreyMcKeown
Great
songwriting partnerships are increasingly rare. More and more young artists
seem to aim for the recognition that solo success brings and tethering their
futures to the talents of another seems like it will only dilute their glory.
Heather Humphrey and Tom McKeown, however, are superb individual talents who
realize their combined chemistry is much greater. Such instances are rare and
require an unique confluence of personalities and skill. Often one is achieved
without the other and those instances are near-misses that, invariably, don’t
have staying power. Humphrey and McKeown, however, share an all-encompassing
musical and emotional sympathy that comes through in each of the twelve songs
on Tapestry of Shadows. Their fifth release brings some new musical faces into
their fold and results in one of the most seamless “band efforts” yet from this
duo, but their customary mix of traditional with the individual makes this a
much more memorable effort.
You
know you’ve struck something special just based on the opener alone. “Beautiful”,
at first glance, might strike some as trite just based on title alone. It would
be a hasty judgment. One of the abiding qualities of the duo’s music is how
their songwriting continually upends listener’s expectations. “Beautiful”
tackles familiar themes in popular song with an unusual poetic sensibility, yet
it never overreaches and hits all the right reflective and exploratory notes. “Better
Day”, the album’s second track, proves that the duo’s musical explorations have
the same flexibility as their lyrical and vocal ones. The deep fried Southern
feel they find here requires just the right amount of restraint from the
players to pull it off and the duo, ably supported by their collaborators, pull
it off with flying colors. They take a different tenor altogether on the third
song “You Don’t Know Me”. This isn’t a cover of the longtime pop standard, but
rather one of the duo’s best originals defined by a haunting vocal from McKeown
that finds the emotional key to this early one and dovetails nicely with the arrangement.
The arrangement hinges on the collaboration between piano and other instruments
– it has a deeply emotional, melodic grace that many will love.
There’s
a slight shuffle quality prevalent on the duo’s performance of “Someday” that
peaks nicely on the chorus. It’s one of the album’s songs where the duo sings
together with the best effect and they exhibit just the right amount of
restraint. The lyrics, as well, are among the finest on the album and the duo
finds just the right phrasing even working as duet. They hit another high point
with the impressive “Sasha on the Carousel”. This is one of the album’s better
lyrics thanks to its evocative imagery that, only occasionally, falls flat.
When it works, however, it works so well that listeners are transported into
the song’s point of view with little effort. The march tempo and assertive
percussion heard in “Passing Shadows” sets it apart from much of the
surrounding material but the differences in presentation are never so stark
that the track seems incongruous placed against the remainder of the album.
Tapestry of Shadows succeeds for many reasons, but artistry is chief among them
and that quality has defined Humphrey and McKeown’s work through five albums
and counting.
Grade:
A-
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