Erin McKeown Album Reviews

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Distillation (2000)

Distillation (2000)

7.5

Queen of Quiet / Blackbirds / Didn't They? / La Petite Mort / The Little Cowboy / Daisy and Prudence / Fast As I Can / You Musn't Kick It Around / How to Open My Heart in 4 Easy Steps / Dirt Gardener / Love in 2 Parts

A month ago, I'd never heard of Erin McKeown before. Then I saw her hold her own in front of a bunch of Josh Rouse fanatics and deliver a short set that was full of life, humor and an impressive mastery of the guitar. Even though she didn't look her 27 years, her songs displayed both a sprightly, youthful energy as well as a subtle maturity you wouldn't expect. As a result, her songs are multi-layered entities that refuse to be defined and labelled in one stroke. One minute she'll offer you a reflection on being an artist travelling all over the country to make a living ("Fast As I Can"), but the next one she's unfolding a tale about a widower who lost his wife during intercourse ("La Petite Mort"): "We both found heaven right then, you just chose not to come back." Stylistically, she's as hard to pinpoint. While many probably compare her to Ani DiFranco (and rightly so) and will mention a beatnik-vibe, there's so much more than that, as she's obviously heard some Tom Waits and draws inspiration from the swing-era in a way that Dan Hicks would approve of. Of course, this is made possible by her command of her instrument. As a multi-instrumentalist she's already advantaged, but her skill on guitar - she's capable of playing swing jazz, country, folk, blues, waltzes, etc - also sets her apart. This is not just an anti-folk newbie, but a literate, funny & smart singer-songwriter not afraid to wear her influences on her sleeve. She also knows it's okay to have fun in a while as the album starts off on a lighter note, with the brief spring energy of "Queen of Quiet." Musically, it situates itself between the activist folk of DiFranco and Billy Bragg, but McKeown has other, more personal, concerns. The song's played acoustically, but swings and the vocal overdubs of herself were a great idea. Other songs that keep up the brightness going are the funky "Blackbirds" (which derives it structure from a children's rhyme) and a few delightful pieces of retro-swing. "Didn't They?" proves McKeown's voice has the elastic quality to pull it off (and she reminded me somewhat of Billie Holiday doing "Did I Remember?" when she was backed by Artie Shaw). This fondness of the swing era is also confirmed by an interpretation of Rogers & Hart's 1940 song "You Mustn't Kick It Around" and "La Petite Mort," which straddles the thin line between jazz, bluegrass and pop to successful results. Unfortunately, this playful mood isn't continued throughout the entire record. This is not to say that the longer, quieter, more reflective song that follow up the opening quartet are less valuable, but they don't have the instant appeal and energy that attracted me to McKeown's music in the first place. The two reflective songs ("Daisy and Prudence" and "Dirt Gardener") she recorded earlier sound a bit out of place between the other songs, but luckily there are also disarmingly honest cuts like "How to Open My Heart in 4 Easy Steps," which are almost impossible to dislike in their naked emotionality. Distillation lacks the imposing consistency to become a full-fledged masterpiece, while it's occasionally also a bit marred by a self-indulgence that's a characteristic of most debut albums, but its also a pretty impressive debut (let's forget about the 1999 demo compilation Monday Morning Cold) by a lady who has enough style, wit and craftsmanship to come up with lots of material that can only be filed under "Erin McKeown" and not whatever genre that's fashionable at the time of writing. Good stuff!