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Kathleen Edwards
Asking for Flowers
(Zoe/Rounder)
First Appeared in The Music Box, April 2008, Volume 15, #4
Written by John Metzger
Wed April 9, 2008, 06:30 AM CDT
Kathleen Edwards has never been known to pull her punches. On her debut
Failer as well as its uneven follow-up Back to Me, she not only
stated quite bluntly whatever happened to be on her mind, but she also
surrounded her words with music that was just as aggressively forthright. Still,
there was a sense that Edwards hadn’t yet found her stride or her voice. It was
as if she didn’t feel comfortable just being herself. On her latest effort Asking for Flowers, she continues to sound like a cross between Lucinda
Williams, Neil Young, and Tom Petty, but this time, there’s nothing tentative or
uncertain about her approach, which makes all the difference in the world. Her
lyrical portraits have matured considerably, too, and the unwavering confidence
of her delivery dutifully brings them to life.
Like its predecessors, Asking for Flowers isn’t to be taken lightly,
and the way in which its songs flow together sufficiently enhances the
somberness of the album’s mood. Its packaging is adorned with an array of
botanical photographs that depict blossoms that are in various stages of decay.
Spent and fading, they stand as metaphors for the sense of loss that permeates
the endeavor. On the angst-filled and angry diatribe The Cheapest Key as
well as on the bitterly resigned title track, love has gone astray. Elsewhere,
innocence is jettisoned as a young couple heads north to dodge the draft (Oil
Man’s War), and death hovers over the chillingly mournful trilogy of Alicia Ross, Scared at Night, and Run.
Sometimes, Edwards’ narratives are vague; other moments are more direct.
Although it’s hard to tell, for example, precisely what has happened in the
true-life tale told in Alicia Ross, there is no mistaking the ominous
tone that hangs in the air. With Oh Canada, Edwards follows a different
tack by ripping the blinders from the eyes of the sheltered, white suburbanites
who refuse to see the problems plaguing her homeland as well as the world.
Through it all, the darkness that she conjures is disquieting, yet there also is
something strikingly beautiful and universally compelling about her expressions
of pain and anguish.
Working once again with producer Jim Scott, Edwards succeeded in regaining
some of the punch that was missing from Back to Me. At the same time,
though, she also managed to refine the subtler touches that she was attempting
to graft onto her work. Aided by a supporting cast that includes Heartbreaker
Benmont Tench as well as guitarists Colin Cripps and Greg Leisz, Edwards gives
Oh Canada the snarling, biting grittiness it needs, while Paul Reddick’s
harmonica accompaniment augments the troubled moodiness of Alicia Ross.
When Edwards pulls back the reigns to deliver Sure as Shit, on which she
is accompanied only by her own acoustic guitar, she reveals the fragile
vulnerability that previously had been masked by her tough exterior.
In crafting Asking for Flowers, it seems as if Edwards finally has
found her balance. Her songs are shaped as much by the music as they are by her
words. Once its verses drift away, Goodnight, California is left to ride
pensively upon the crests of sound that carefully are sculpted by Edwards’
backing band, and her vocals become nothing more than ghostly howls that escape
into the black of night. They could be cries of mourning, they could be wails of
loneliness, or they could be something in between. All of these perspectives
would suit the tenor of the affair. The most important thing to remember,
though, is that while Edwards’ first two outings showed a lot of potential and
promise, Asking for Flowers is the work of an artist who is fully formed. 
Asking for Flowers 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 © 2008 The Music Box
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