Sunday, November 10, 2013

Laura Cantrell - No Way There From Here

Laura Cantrell's one of that small handful of artists whose music I love so much and in a way that I really can't properly describe. There's something so simple about it, and so sweet, and listening to her it always feels like she's never gone away.

(In fact, it's been a little while, depending on how you figure. 2005's Humming By The Flowered Vine is where it all started for me, and while I quickly worked my way backwards through Not The Tremblin' Kind, When The Roses Bloom Again and her debut ep (not to mention all the other stuff available on her website), in terms of new material there's actually only been the "Trains and Boats and Planes" ep in 2008 and 2011's covers record Kitty Wells Dresses since Humming.)

Anyway, No Way There From Here doesn't miss a beat - it's as disarmingly wonderful as anything else she's ever released. At first I was particularly stuck on the delicately country-ballady title track, but my affections have since moved more to "Starry Skies", a gently, joyously swooning shimmy that's just a little bit transportive; having said that, it's all good - no low points here. So glad to have it to listen to.