"I like the sensation of feeling numb" sings Kathryn Williams on a track called Sequins.
The ability to find consolation from being in a coma reflects the fact that she is a singer songwriter who is able to draw solace from the curviest of curve balls life throws at us.
Her mood remains resolutely solitary and forlorn throughout the thirteen tracks even when she's collaborating with James Yorkston (on Arwen) or with Ed Harcourt (a low key presence on three tracks).
Recorded in Snowdonia and featuring melancholy string arrangements by cellist Ben Trigg, this is her tenth solo album.
It takes its title from the power company where Elvis worked as a truck driver; a fact referred to on the track Gave It Away which also name checks two other dead pop stars: Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.
Williams says this record is "about how time matters"; a fact evident on Count ("I've got to make these hours count") and Out Of Time where she reflects resignedly that you may only know you're in your prime when this period has been and gone.
The songs are full of searching for love and meaning while we go about our daily business. Undergroundand Monday Morning, for example, are commuter blues of a working woman stuck in a rut while the single Heart Shaped Stone expresses a yearning to be swept away by romance.
|
Despite the uniformly downbeat sentiments these are not songs of someone who has given up in despair. Darkness Light finds the singer stubbornly fighting shadows while on Tequila she affirms the need to "be brave enough to be yourself".
After over a decade in the music business, listeners should know by now that Kathryn Williams is a not an artist you will find on the sunny side of the street but this record proves she still has the happy knack of shedding some light on the darkness.
Kathryn Williams' website
|
