Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Sarah Blasko - I Awake

Looking back over what I wrote at the time about each of Sarah Blasko's previous albums, What the Sea Wants..., The Overture & the Underscore and As Day Follows Night, it seems like there's a bit of a pattern - I liked them all in those initial days/weeks of listening, but hadn't yet realised how much the music on each of them would stick with me, haunt me even, over time...her music is the kind that lingers.

And now I Awake, which makes four from four seriously good lps - maybe it's even the best of the four. Delicacy and a clear, strong vision are in perfect balance, and the songwriting is wonderful, confidently ascending to swoons and swirls like those that highlight "New Country" and "Illusory Light" and often bathed in strings and a cinematically dramatic air (say on "An Arrow"); elsewhere, there's a lovely, light touch on songs like the classicist pop of "Fool"...Blasko is something a bit out of the ordinary.