Rating: 5/5
Review:
An outstanding album
What a fantastic album! This is a work about Mary Gauthier having been given up for adoption when very young, the pain the knowledge of it has brought her and her attempt to contact her birth mother. It is a superb work, with one fabulously evocative song after another - each one lyrically haunting, musically wonderful and beautifully arranged and produced with strong influences from Gauthier's native New Orleans.
The whole thing is extremely moving, but the two central songs on the album are exceptional, I think. The sheer pain in her voice as she sings "Blood Is Blood" will pierce your heart and "March 11, 1962," which is half spoken and half sung, reduced me to tears. Very, very few songs have ever done that. I found real understanding and personal resonances here, so although it is about a desperately sad subject I didn't find it depressing at all. I think Mary Gauthier gives real insight in these songs and they do what good songs are supposed to - they convey deep human feelings and experiences from one person to another.
Not one to play to get you in the mood for a wild night out, that's for sure, but a truly outstanding album and one that deserves to become a classic. Very, very warmly recommended to anyone who likes an intelligent, thoughtful and tuneful collection of songs.
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