Erika Kulnys is a Canadian singer songwriter who is committed to social change.
Although the title of her latest album suggests a revolutionary zeal, this is not carried through to the music itself unless you regard Bridge Over Troubled Water or Let It Be as radical calls to arms.
In lieu of political sloganeering, bitter sweet Nanci Griffith-esque love songs rub shoulders with more general affirmations about the need to chase dreams and find power from within.
The title track is a 'get off your ass and do something' song pitched in the form of guilt inducing questions like "Where were you when we marched in the streets?".
Roaring For A Revolution implies that you need to change yourself before changing the world. This is a cue for a bunch of new agey personal growth metaphors ("You are the moon leading your own way to your own tune") and reinforces the message of Keep Your Feet Moving in which the listener is urged to "reach inside and find your own sound".
At its worst, such airy-fairyness drags us on the singer's inner journey through "the forest of my mind" (Carolina) to "the nectar of my soul" (Hummingbird) and onwards to "where the honeysuckle's blooming" (Honeysuckle).
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The premise of the closing song ,Sacrifice, is that striving for truth and beauty requires a mixture of courage and compromise. I would argue this noble pursuit also demands that concepts of freedom, peace and justice are more clearly defined.
While I have no reason to doubt the integrity of Erika Kulnys' beliefs, this whole album has a kind of 'onward Christian soldiers' dynamic to the extent that, while religion is not overtly touched upon, any would-be anti-authoritarian stance is neutralized by bland pseudo spiritual platitudes backed by soft pop arrangements.
Erika Kulnys's website
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