KATHLEEN EDWARDS: Voyageur

Maple Music

Here’s an item that’s everything the Internet buzz says it is. Part She & Him romantic, part jagged little thrills, Voyageur is a whole other trip for Edwards. As in roller-coaster ride of breaking up, breaking out, new love and reaching for far horizons.

The reigning redhead queen of Canuck country/roots rock came at this album fresh from the break-up of her five-year marriage to guitarist Colin Cripps, which may or may not have triggered a period of intense soul-searching and creative reassessment.

This could easily have set up as the ‘divorce’ album but Justin ‘Bon Iver’ Vernon’s involvement in the project changed all that. The Grammy-nominated, high-voiced neo-folk singer/songwriter initially came on board as a writer/producer but his involvement with all aspects of the album as well as with Edwards deepened considerably.

Listed as co-producer Vernon’s influence is all over the project; stylistically, lyrically and in the production approach. Given that he was working with the usual folk/roots instrumentation, Vernon did a great job of keeping the essence of Edwards’ music intact while bringing other dimensions into the picture. The result is a very good thing indeed and those dimensions make it possible for Edwards to stretch her vocals into surprising and rewarding areas. Check how tall she stands dueting with Norah Jones on album closer ‘For The Record’.

The linear narratives, which dominated her previous work, are now layered with complex reckonings although she’s lost none of her eye for the intimate detail (‘Change The Sheets’) that sharp-focuses a song.

Likewise, the tough gal persona is toned down; not softened so much as reflective and less inclined to lash out. While album opener "Empty Threat” and "Chameleon/Comedian" link directly back to her previous work, the album as a whole is a textured, moving collection that deals with the wreckage of relationship death while neatly avoiding its clichés.

On that front, watch for “House Full of Empty Rooms," and Soft Place to Land" to emerge as classics of the genre.

Lenny Stoute