Amy Speace: The Killer in Me
Amy Speace: The Killer in Me
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Saturday, 04, Apr 2009 06:22
Wildflower Records, out now.
In a nutshell...
Adequate, elegant, but ultimately predictable.
What's it all about?
The Killer in Me, as the title may suggest, is an introspective collection of tracks on a variety of topics generally each as bleak as the next. Prime country music territory, it has instead been tagged as "soulful" in some quarters, while many reviewers prefer to refer to the genre as Americana folk.
Whichever label you choose to apply, there is an element of angst to many of the lyrics, leading songs such as I Met My Love to read more like a report of the events which took place in some true or fictitious failed relationship, without quite reaching the raw emotions that the album attempts to deliver.
High points are to be found, however, in tracks such as Piece by Piece, a delicate juxtaposition of familial relationships, interpersonal support and heavy but necessary weather ("let it rain for days - we need that rain") that ranks among the closest efforts to the imagery and emotional charge to which all the tracks seem to aspire.
Who's it by?
Amy Speace 'broke through' in 2006 with the release of Songs for Bright Street and is following up the first album with this, her second. The Killer in Me reunites her with backing group The Tearjerks, with lead guitarist James Mastro doubling as the producer of the album.
Mastro is not alone in engineering the compilation, however, as Mitch Easter also gains a credit - as well as providing the studio in which the tracks were laid down, the Fidelitorium in Kernersville, North Carolina. Other acts to have recorded at the facility include Suzanne Vega and REM, placing Speace in auspicious surroundings for a relative newcomer to album releases.
As an example...
"Sometimes love is not enough/Sometimes time is all you need/Sometimes a little too much makes you a little too sad/Brings you right to your knees." - This Love
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
The buzz surrounding this album suggests the chances of an award or two are pretty good; certainly the mass-market appeal is there.
What the others say
"The Killer in Me by Amy Speace is a truly brilliant piece of work; 13 glorious tracks of modernistic folkish nu-country with softly rockin' nuances and a wonderfully commercial underbelly." - Toxic Pete
"Amy Speace embraces the lyric-focused emotions of folk music, but breaks the genre's mould with bellowing horns and organ and twangy electric guitars." - Top40 Charts
So is it any good?
The Killer in Me is a perfectly passable collection of tracks and will no doubt please fans of both Speace and the Americana, folksy, country music genres. However, it lacks any significant punch and instead runs in the same well-worn grooves formed by previous stars and also-rans of the same ilk. Even the first lines of the songs are adequate but uninspiring; "Sometimes love is not enough", "I have failed and I have fallen, cried till I was bawling" and "It's been cold here" are just a few examples.
Overall this mediocrity of design lets down an album that, in production, is actually of reasonable quality. Speace's vocals have the country music drawl demanded by the genre, satisfying clarity and the ability to carry at least some of the sentiment that her songs aim to evoke in the listener. And, save for the formulaic nature of her tracks, each song stands in its own right, encapsulating a story or an emotion. It is simply the predictability of those themes that undermines an otherwise elegant compilation.
Scoring for this one is boosted by the album's eminent playability and soothing mellowness, with marks deducted because I could have guessed from the outset at least half of the topics covered; more surprises - or at least originality - would have been more pleasing.
6/10
Bob Bardsley