Friday, 11 August 2017

Ana Egge & The Sentimentals - Say That Now


Rating: 5/5

Review:
Another fine album from Ana Egge



I like Ana Egge's work very much.  This is a newish departure for her, recording with The Sentimentals and developing a rather harder band sound; for the most part it works very well.

Ege still writes excellent songs; the material here is varied and looks at matters of the heart (and other organs) as well as some burning social issues – notably in He's A Killer Now, which is an excellent, haunting song from the point of view of a mother whose son has committed a murderous act of terrorism.  I was gripped from the moment I heard the opening line, "Forgive my son…" sung with all the quiet heartbreak which Ege can do so brilliantly.  Other songs are also very thoughtful and well crafted.  The quirkiness which made albums like Road To My Love so brilliant isn't quite so evident here, but this is still a fine collection of songs.

The band are excellent and Egge's distinctive, haunting vocals remain quite wonderful to me.  It is evident how good she is when the lead vocals on Still Waters Run Deep are taken by MC Hansen; it's a perfectly decent song, well sung and played, but it just doesn't have that something that Egge brings.  Nonetheless, I think this is another fine album from a very good but rather overlooked singer/songwriter, and I can recommend it warmly.

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