Skip to main content

Album reviews with Ian Sinclair: October 28, 2019

Latest releases from Jim Sullivan, Bill Frisell and Paradise of Bachelors

Itasca
Spring
(Paradise of Bachelors)
★★★★

LOS ANGELES-BASED musician Kayla Cohen, who records under the moniker Itasca, wrote her seventh album in an old adobe house in New Mexico, having retreated there for two seasons partly in response to the election of Donald Trump.

Inspired by the history and distinctive landscape of the region, the organic folky ballads on Spring constitute a set of impressionistic, sun-dappled travelogues.

Accompanied by members of Gun Outfit, Bitchin’ Bajas and James Elkington, Cohen’s hushed vocals beautifully meld with her terrific acoustic guitar strumming, piano, discreet strings and the occasional lap steel guitar.

Sounding both sparse and rich, tentative and self-assured, it’s a dreamlike set, reminiscent of the warmer parts of Joni Mitchell’s work or the less grandiose sections of Weyes Blood’s superb Titanic Rising record.

Sure it meanders a little, but this just adds to its distinct charm.

Jim Sullivan
Jim Sullivan
(Light in the Attic Records)
★★★★

THOUGH he played prestigious clubs and befriended Hollywood actors like Lee Marvin and Harry Dean Stanton, commercial success escaped US singer-songwriter Jim Sullivan in the early 1970s.

By the middle of the decade, he had had enough of the Los Angeles scene and decided to drive to Nashville to try his luck there.

Drinking heavily and with his marriage in tatters, he disappeared in a remote part of New Mexico. Mysteriously, his body has never been found.

After reissuing Sullivan’s debut album in 2011, Light in the Attic Records have now turned their attention to his self-titled sophomore record, a warm blast of radio-friendly country rock.

Like Kris Kristofferson and Gene Clark, it’s country music but refracted through the foggy lens of the late 1960s counterculture.

With horns, flutes and pedal steel guitar accompanying Sullivan’s rich baritone, this rerelease will delight rock enthusiasts.

Bill Frisell
Harmony
(Blue Note Records)
★★★

HAVING collaborated with everyone from Paul Motian and Jan Garbarek to Lucinda Williams and Laura Veirs, Harmony is jazz guitarist Bill Frisell’s first album for Blue Note as bandleader.

Joined by Petra Haden on vocals, Hank Roberts on cello and Luke Bergman on acoustic and baritone guitars and bass, the 68-year-old legend conjures up a magical, genre-defying set of original material and classics such as On The Street Where You Live, Lush Life and a weary take on Pete Seeger’s Where Have All The Flowers Gone.

Though he is the headline name, Frisell’s playing is patient and controlled, allowing Haden’s dazzling and sometimes wordless vocals to really shine, the absence of drums adding to the otherworldly  atmosphere.

With its wonderful mix of jazz, folk, country, show tunes and soul which often ranges into MOR territory, it’s an accessible set.

 

OWNED BY OUR READERS

We're a reader-owned co-operative, which means you can become part of the paper too by buying shares in the People’s Press Printing Society.

 

 

Become a supporter

Fighting fund

You've Raised:£ 13,288
We need:£ 4,712
3 Days remaining
Donate today