Thursday, April 25, 2013

"This summer hurts": Laura Stevenson - Wheel

So easy for me to like, this one. A sort of indie-folk-americana confection, layered with electric guitars that sound as if they've come by way of late 90s indie rock - a good thing, obviously - and charismatically sung by Stevenson in a scratchily immediate voice that puts much of the record into the same terrain as Martha Wainwright. It takes in soaringly epic countrified rock ("Triangle", "Telluride"), giddily veering pop moments like "Runner", "Bells & Whistles", "Sink, Swim" and "Eleonora" (that last particularly bringing Belly to my mind - again, always a good thing), and a bunch in between. Very enjoyable.