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This is what I adore listening to, the kind of music when you feel connected with the music, enjoying a peaceful moment at the end of the day, when the sun went down, when hope and faith fail and the reign of the shadows begins. FAITH IN THE SHADOWS by Kerry Powers is, as CDBaby’s review say: just the damn pretty good Americana, earthly, sensual, tender, irreverent, obscure but so captivating.
Maybe the dark side of the album was inspired by her adventures in the record biz when in the 90′-2000’s all signs pointed the songwriter to a bright and bejeweled future, she was duped by an unscrupulous record distributor, putting down away her faith into the music industry and then preferred to focus her time to her family.
But in fact, she never dropped down her guitar and never stopped writing songs. In 2005 she finally reunited with her long-time collaborator and producer Crit Harmon (Martin Sexton, Mary Gauthier, Susan Werner) to record FAITH IN THE SHADOWS. “Critics has been terrific at encouraging me to deepen my writing,” she says. And it’s clear, on these new writings, she is looking for beauty on the darker side of life.
“People have been saying it’s a darker record for me, and I’ll admit it’s moodier than anything I’ve ever written, but there are many affirming moments, too,” Power said. “This time I was really focused on what I was going through at the time, and determined to get it right. I have never been 100 percent happy with any of my previous records, because they never seemed finished to me. But now, with this one, I think I’ve done the best I can do, and I’m pretty happy with it.”
Unquestioning faith, love and the yearning for it, the ten short stories of FAITH IN THE SHADOWS are perfectly aligned with the great American story telling tradition, yes, they could indeed come from a classic like “The Nick Adams Stories” – minimalistic in expression, sometimes revealing a great sense of humor– and she does not go splattering about with futile words, avoids emphasis in a very natural way and thus allows spacious room for anyone to interpret the stories and the rich imagery they contain in one’s own way and with one’s own personal history as the backdrop. It isn’t just the stories that are intriguing, no, it is the whole package.
The opening track feels lifted from the closing credits of some unknown Clint Eastwood mystery/western: all twangy distorted electric guitars, steady backbeat strummed cowboy acoustic, and hovering B3 organ. The details of this tune live in the shadows. And like many of Eastwood’s recent films, the omitted detail is what gives the song its power. All we know is something terrible has been done, and a desperate confrontation is near. Clues are dropped like so many mirages in the desert: dancing shadows, a found weapon, locked cabin dead-bolted doors, rationing bullets, lovers’ misunderstanding, etc. With cryptic lyrics like: “My voice my face, A haunting cold embrace, Could be your guilt, Could be my ghost, You’ll never know, You’ll never never know,” Powers gives the listener lots of directions to go in.
On the 4th track, title character “Magdelene” searches for Jesus at the Greyhound bus station and steals your heart while in a flowing style that evokes Lucinda Williams, Powers sings in “Tallulah Send A Car For Me” : “Can’t wear my alligator boots in church/Preacher says all they ever do is drag in dirt/I think I got some dirt/On his clean white shirt.”
And in “Trying To Make My Way To You” Kerri Powers turns a born-again cliché on it’s head: “Drag my soul to Galilee, Faith find me,…Call my soul to Galilee,Ooh, faith find me.” She’s turned the tables: Has she found Jesus? No no no. Has Jesus found her?
Take your time to study the album and then you’re set to allow yourself immerse in a stream of music and harmonic sounds Kerri’s voice and the band create. Her most beautiful vocals create at times a mere mist over that lazy wide river, and when you’re carried downstream the tonal color of her voice changes to match whatever may lay ahead. It is a stream you want to ride again and again, and each time the river has new surprises in store. Crit Harmon has done an elegant job producing the album, allowing Kerri to do her singing up front, creating a perfect musical atmosphere for her to tell these great stories. This is one of those albums you just can’t afford not to have. She has been out of the game for a good while. FAITH IN THE SHADOWS is strong enough to get her a spot in the starting lineup.
Preview
Do You Hear Footsteps?|Trying to Make My Way to You|Nobody Minds My Drinking| Magdelene|Shadow of Someone|Low Down Low|Fireworks and Cheap Repairs|Diamond Day|Sweet Crusade|Tallulah Send a Car for Me
About the author : Alias is a French self-made-man, multi-talented artist, he is also a music-producer, screen writer and artistic director for films. Read more from this author
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