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Kasey Chambers
Carnival
(Warner Bros.)
First Appeared in The Music Box, October 2006, Volume 13, #10
Written by John Metzger
"I’ve got walls coming down that I don’t need no more," sings Kasey Chambers
during Sign on the Door, the second track from her latest album
Carnival, and although she’s celebrating her spiritual awakening, she might
as well be talking about her music. Chambers, of course, is no stranger to
covering a lot of terrain on her outings, and in jumping from bluegrass to
meditative folk to classic AM radio fare, her sophomore effort Barricades &
Brickwalls explored the full range of country’s possibilities. Carnival,
however, is something altogether different, and while Chambers has retained more
than a hint of her Americana roots, she also has pushed her songs in a myriad of
new directions. She utilizes her extraordinary gift for concocting infectious
melodies as a launching pad from which she subsequently dabbles in everything
from adult alternative (Colour of a Carnival) to steamy jazz and blues
(Light Up a Candle) and from intoxicating R&B (Railroad) to raging
punk (I’ve Got You Now). Elsewhere, she is joined by Powderfinger’s
Bernard Fanning for the soulful ballad Hard Road, and she strikes a pose
that is akin to Lisa Loeb on the gentle but bubbly folk-pop of Nothing at All.
Much like Loeb — as well as Sixpence None the Richer’s Leigh Nash, for that
matter — Chambers has a voice that exudes an air of innocent fragility, and she
uses it to ring additional complexity out of her lyrics. The Rain may
begin with a weary sense of self-determination, but the beams of sunlight that
filter through her vocals bathe the song in a warm, optimistic glow. Likewise,
the chorus to Colour of a Carnival contains as much defiance as it does
heartbroken yearning, and I’ve Got You Now is as sexual as it is
vengeful. Although the poetry of her lyrics continues to lag behind the
expressiveness of her articulations, the gap has closed considerably, and when
combined with Carnival’s broader appeal, it becomes readily apparent that
Chambers deserves a wider following than she typically has attracted.  ½
Carnival is available from Amazon.com.
To order, Click Here!
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2006 The Music Box
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