Kathleen Wilhoite
Pitch Like a Girl
Daves' Record Company, PO Box 683, Los Angeles CA 90078-0683
Release Date: 1997
Dar Williams
End of the Summer
Razor and Tie, PO Box 585, Cooper Station, New York NY 10276, razrntie@aol.com
Release Date: 1997
It's a lean time for the singer-songwriter. For now, at least, more acrobatic musical genres are grabbing Billboard headlines, and the image of the lone guitarist singing her heart out to a coffeehouse crowd more often than not seems like a throwback or a cliché.
But singer-songwriters survived new wave, they survived grunge and they will survive the underground's latest obsessions, too. They will survive because of people like Kathleen Wilhoite and Dar Williams.
Wilhoite's eclectic Pitch Like A Girl has a clear musical kinship with Edie Brickel's Picture Perfect Morning, but her intimate delivery and quirky penmanship keep the album nimble and interesting. This dozen-song set replicates the pacing of the best live performances, ranging from the spare intensity of stripped-down songs like "Wish We Never Met" to the fuller, blusier sounds of "Symphony." Her clear, pure voice is wonderfully rough around the edges, giving the songs an emotional surety and musical depth. Only occassionally, such as on "No One Can Touch Me," does she overdo the husky overtones and sound a bit too much like Kim Carnes.
Williams' End of the Summer, meanwhile, suffers from a single overarching flaw: the leadoff track, "Are You Out There," is so stunningly good that the rest of the album -- solid by any rational standards -- pales in comparison. Tense like driving in a nighttime downpour, "Are You Out There" hearkens back to folk soulmate Ani DiFranco at her energetic best, always close to crashing but still holding on with white-knuckle intensity. These tunes were clearly born of a folk-singer state of mind, but Williams adds so many layers of sound and rhythm that they sound a million miles away from the nearest coffee house open mic. Unlike the standard folky sing-along, Williams leaves you only dimly aware of any verse-chorus-verse structure. From simple beginnings they branch out into an abundance of different and surprising textures, diverting your attention with a dobro or a blast of electric guitar, compelling you to listen again just to figure out where all the other roads will take you.
-- Chris Schwartz
schwartz@outersound.com
