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Carly Maicher - Hiding

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 26 / 6 / 2012



Carly Maicher - Hiding
Label: Carly Maicher
Format: CD

intro

Intimate and absolutely remarkable debut album from Canadian-based musician Carly Maicher, which was recorded on a tiny New Brunswick island where she attempted to explore the depths of loneliness

Sometimes an album comes along that just blows you away; when it’s an unknown singer who introduces herself via eleven sparsely accompanied acoustic based songs then you can be sure that it’s the beginning of something very special. Carly Maicher is in her mid-twenties, and some four years ago took the decision to leave her Winnipeg home and relocate to Grand Manan, a tiny island in New Brunswick so she could explore the depths of loneliness. “ I had been romanticizing about running away to a far away land and sitting by the ocean as the waves rolled in and writing songs,” recalled Maicher, so she took up residence in her mother’s seldom used summer home on Grand Manan to realize her yearning with the intention of recording a homemade record while there. But the months Maicher planned to stay turned into years. Even though she spent some time managing a restaurant on Grand Manan, Maicher found the inspiration to write the songs featured on ‘Hiding’ and record them with the help of Zachary Lucky and Sean Craib Petkau. It’s unlikely that you’ll hear a more honest, intimate set of songs this year. The first thing that strikes you about ‘Hiding’ is not just the starkness of the songs but the pureness and honesty in Maicher’s vocals. There’s a touch of Beth Orton here and there but Maicher, by recording at home, captures an intimacy that makes each and every song on ‘Hiding’ sound like she’s performing them right in front of you, and just for you alone, and Maicher does have a voice that’s her own. By their very nature the songs have a sense of longing; sadness and loneliness hang heavily over every track but rather than isolating the listener Maicher’s vocals really do draw you into her songs and her own little world. It’s quite an accomplishment. Beside Maicher’s own acoustic and electric guitars, Zachary Lucky plays electric guitar and banjo, and Jonathan Anderson helps out on bass, pedal steel, and lap steel besides lending some quite affecting background vocals along with Sean Craib Petkau. So while the sound is quite sparse the use of those extra instruments does add texture and atmosphere to what could have been a tough and unrewarding experience had the artist concerned not had the talent that Maicher so obviously has to express her emotions through her songs. The power and emotion in Maicher’s voice on tracks like ‘My Mountain’ where she is accompanied by just her acoustic guitar is bordering on astonishing. That such a sparsely accompanied song can carry such feelings just through the use of a voice and acoustic guitar is proof that Maicher is a singer in the true meaning of the word. Her words reach out and touch you and it has to be said again, you’ll get the feeling that she’s singing just for you and not just that but that she is sitting just an arm’s length away from you. Maicher may well have aimed for a lo-fi approach to the recording but it’s the best sounding lo-fi set of songs I’ve ever heard. ‘Hiding’ is one of those albums where it’s impossible to chose a particular song over another as a highlight, ‘See You Soon’ with banjo fleshing out her sound was a favourite for a long time but every track here, because of those outstanding vocals, has at one time or another been the most favoured. The album had one fault and that was that it seemed to be incredibly short, I was forever playing it over and over again as it ended far too soon and I needed to hear more. In fact the album lasts for forty minutes; it’s so good time passes so quickly while listening to it. It is presented in a handmade fabric sleeve sewn by Maicher, which adds a neat personal touch to these honest recordings and seems fitting. There is a feeling that we are going to hear a lot more from Carly Maicher in the future, talent like this deserves to be heard.



Track Listing:-
1 What I Wanted
2 The Land
3 Tundra
4 My Friend, The Moon
5 The Road
6 Worry
7 My Wild Heart
8 Lost At Sea
9 My Mountain
10 See You Soon
11 I Can't Hide


Band Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/Carly-Maicher-118509491572733/
https://carlymaicher.bandcamp.com/



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