Jan. 17, 2013 - Issue #900: The ongoing musical evolution of Hannah Georgas
So Long
Amy van Keeken {recordings_bands_mg} So Long {/recordings_bands_mg}
Independent,
5
Amy van Keeken's So Long is a delicate heartbreaker that, on the surface, anyway, seems closer to the tumbling country sounds of the AwesomeHots than her work rocking out with the Secretaries. Dig deeper, though, and you'll find van Keeken wringing emotion from every note, her voice as powerful here in a (mostly) acoustic setting as when she's singing over top of a rock 'n' roll band.Opener "Golden Leaves" begins the set with quiet and steady strumming, wistful organ and bowed bass joining van Veeken's melody as the song plays out, while "Fire For You" is a torch-lit love song complicated by van Keeken's vocal twists and turns.
The record spins on the title track, providing a stunning mid-point for the set as van Keeken sings, "It's been so long since I felt so good," the melody rising towards a precipice, finally arriving and holding there in a haunting pause before backing off ever so slightly. It's the sort of song that sits comfortably, compellingly, on repeat, van Keeken's ragged guitar strums melding perfectly with Darren Radbourne's coronet and Tom Murray's double bass.
The final two tracks flow together almost as two connected parts: "You In My Mind" is a sparse confession of love, while "Living Without" adds a reverberating electric guitar and steady, driving percussion to the sonic palette, van Keeken's voice wavering subtly until it gathers its full force and rises to the top of a turbulent swell. So Long is about as close as you can get to a perfect record, each track mining a new piece of territory without becoming lost and disconnected from what came before, turning the songs into a complete piece of work rather than a tenuous collection. vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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