As usual, Josh Hurst has beat me to the punch, but since Kathleen Edwards' new album Asking For Flowers (due tomorrow) has been so heavily rotated in my home lately, I thought I should add my two cents. In short, Edwards has perfected the approach that she pursued on her excellent - albeit uneven - first two albums. Asking For Flowers shows significant musical growth, while leaving some of her charming rough edges intact. Who else among earnest female singer-songwriters could pull off the hilarious kiss-offs of "The Cheapest Key" and "I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory"? Without skipping a beat, Edwards is able to break your heart just as effortlessly, with the gut-wrenching "Alicia Ross" and the deeply personal "Scared At Night." Though there are a few more pedal steel touches on this album, no one should mistake Edwards as a "country" or "folk" artist. She claims Tom Petty, not Lucinda, as her musical role model, and she is always one step closer to the rock world than anything on the other side of the fence. Just check out the Springsteen-like urgency of "Oil Man's War" or the Crazy Horse scorched earth of "Oh Canada." And the title track, which offers little slices of detail without becoming too specific, is definitely the closest thing I've heard to a perfect song in quite a while.
For the first time, Edwards keeps a sharp focus on the melodies for the length of an entire record. On her previous outings, every memorable tune was matched by several songs that fell back on minor-key similarity. Occasionally, Edwards still lets things slip away - I'm not sure how you excuse the dead flat wailing that ends "The Cheapest Key," for instance. Edwards, for all of her maturation as a singer and songwriter, still sounds like a young artist letting it spill from the gut. That still serves Edwards - not even yet 30 years of age - quite well. But she might need to carefully consider her next move. Having perfected her signature sound on Asking For Flowers, the next album will need to move her in a new direction or two.
However, in the meantime, let us celebrate the release of Asking For Flowers, Edwards' finest record to date and one of my early favorites of the year. In fact, it is the only album right now seriously competing with Tift Merritt's Another Country, an album that moves in an entirely different direction and in some ways complements Edwards' latest quite nicely.
(Asking For Flowers will be released tomorrow on Rounder Records.)
UPDATE: I noticed I'm getting a lot of hits off this post. Now I feel like I should've put more effort into my review, but a few aborted attempts were too wordy and drifted off course. Still, I thought I might mention a few more points about Asking For Flowers, those subtle things that really set it off for me:
- The musicians are top-drawer, especially the pedal steel work by Greg Leisz and the keys by Benmont Tench. "Asking For Flowers" has this wicked swell of organ during the guitar solo that is just perfect. UPDATE: ...which is actually supplied by John Ginty's Hammond, which deserves its own shout-out.
- Colin Cripps' guitar work, as always, is terrific. He's a bit more restrained on Flowers, but his presence is still vital. It's nice to have him as the common denominator across Edwards' records (they're married, in case you were wondering).
- "Scared At Night" quite literally brought me to tears one day. I refer you to the EPK for the record for Kathleen's explanation of the song.
- I love how the record seems to have two distinct halves. The second is obviously the more subdued and pensive. It's all perfectly tied together at the end by "Goodnight, California" which is a sort of atmospheric, high-desert lullaby (with a kickass bass line).
UPDATE II: Earlier I mentioned that I was clocking a lot of hits today. I should thank both Sam Phillips and Kathleen Edwards for generating the most traffic I've ever had in a single day. I won't tell you how many hits that is (a laughably low number as blogs go, I assure you), but I still sailed pass my previous daily high. Sam and Kathleen may not have the biggest fanbases in the world, but they've some of the most obsessive. And thanks to all of you obsessive types for stopping by.