Friday, 21 February 2020

Amy LaVere - Painting Blue


Rating: 5/5

Review:
A terrific album

Painting Blue is a terrific album, I think. I have enjoyed a lot of Amy LaVere’s work in the past and this is probably her best to date.

It is, as always, full of personal songs with excellent, intelligent lyrics and fine music. No Room For Baby, for example, is lyrically heart-rending and musically just great. There are also a couple of outstanding covers in John Martyn’s Don’t Want To Know and Robert Wyatt’s Shipbuilding, both of which stand very well beside the excellent originals.

Amy’s voice is wonderful; she has a slightly breathy soprano and a technique where she often slides onto a note rather than hitting it directly, which lends every song a distinct and engaging sound. She is also a very good bassist and combined with the fine band and excellent production, the album sounds really good throughout.

Amy LaVere is very highly regarded by critics and fellow singer-songwriters but is far less well known than she deserves. If you like a classy bit of Americana from a really good artist, you’ll like this – a lot, I suspect. Very warmly recommended.

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