Knitting Songs - Savannah Jo Lack

Its a great feeling when one of your last reviews of the year hits home in such nicety that all you want to do is play it over and over again. Savannah Jo Lack's, Knitting Songs, is exactly that album! Its a pure mix of pop, americana, folk, and authenticity that's lacking in today's scene.

The opening Track, Blank Page Day, is a great testament to her writing and song sculpture. It's simple and fun, but has an anthemic quality like something you'd expect from the likes of Elbow. Little Girl is a beautifully sad story dealing with race, abuse, fear, and more. It takes critical talent to mix beauty like this one with cringing lyrics/story. Her writing is poignant and powerful!

On Old Man Perry, her violin loop provides an excellent backdrop for the folksy-alterna-newgrass tune. She really displays an exquisite fresh talent with this instrumentation. Finally, Ocean Dreams escapes the speakers like a dark composition by the Kronos String Quartet. Its rich with pizzicato and honesty.

All in all, her album is top notch. The writing, instrumentation, and production are all stellar. I'd be very interested to see the live show - to witness these songs take shape, layer after layer.

(Truly one of the top 3 albums I've reviewed all year long!)

RATING: 5 of 5 stars

Strange Part of the Country - Conil

Coming at us from the UK is a great rock-singer/songwriter, Conil. On his debut album, Strange Part of the Country, he's worked with an all star engineer and mixer, Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, Pearl Jam). Conil's voice has an interesting quality to it that's hard to label. Its not overly raspy, not overly pop, and has the ability to go from scream to lilting falsetto in one or two bars.

Strange Part of the Country is an acoustic rock piece with great instrumentation. Imagine Alice in Chains and Elbow writing a song together - that's what you get here. Years Between is a light track with easy percussion and instrumentation that surrounds his passionate voice.

On a later track, Grapevine, the verses are reminiscent of Depeche Mode (minus the layered synths), and the chorus' pull out the stops and really deliver. But perhaps his best track is Bonediggers. Its go great instrumental work - tasty use of perc and bass and just enough axillary to really sell the song. Overall, the writing and production are working well together. Its by no surprise that Conil has been receiving stellar reviews throughout the UK.

RATING: 4.5 of 5 stars