Utne Reader Music Reviews: January-February 2009

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Fresh Folkways
City of Refuge
by Rachel Harrington (SkinnyDennis)

After her second child was stillborn in 2001, Rachel Harrington decided that life was too fragile to skip her dream of singing. Such beginnings often end with a whimper, but Harrington’s story turned out oh so well: City of Refuge, her second album, is a compelling and soulful update of traditional folk. Harrington’s voice is strong and thin, like the young Emmylou Harris’. Supporting musicians on the disc include fiddler Tim O’Brien and singer Pieta Brown, and that span—from bluegrass to folk depressive—captures her range. She has a knack, like Gillian Welch, for writing new tunes for the Carter Family songbook. —Joseph Hart

The Philosopher’s Tune
Melos
by Vassilis Tsabropoulos and Anja Lechner with U.T. Gandhi (ECM)

Existing somewhere on the continuum between classical, jazz, and metaphysics, Melos includes three compositions by G.I. Gurdjieff, the famous Greek-Armenian who’s better known as a philosopher than as a composer. The ascetic tone permeates all of Melos, which swells with a calm optimism in arrangements for piano, cello, and percussion. Pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos composed all the other songs and plays them with a subtle intensity that recalls ECM labelmate Keith Jarrett. Cellist Anja Lechner buoys and augments his modal improvisations, while U.T. Gandhi provides a sublime rhythmic undercurrent. If transcendence is the goal, this is a fine soundtrack. —K.G.

Utne Reader Approved 

More than just the first great record of 2009, Tchamantché by Malian singer Rokia Traoré (Nonesuch) is a vivid set of West African folk songs performed with haunting beauty and penetrating passion. —B.R.

Winterpills front man Philip Price has lost the fussy filigrees of his earlier songs, and a crisper, refined indie sound emerges on Central Chambers (Signature Sounds). The heartfelt introspection and creamy harmony remain. —J.H.

Mavis Staples has been singing about peace and justice for decades. On Live: Hope at the Hideout (Anti-), she delivers a supercharged concert of soul-drenched, political-minded music at a Chicago club. —K.G.

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