Maura Kennedy - Villanelle

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 25 / 11 / 2015

---

For years now Maura Kennedy, along with husband Pete, has been making a 60’s inspired jangly type of Americana that has proven to be irresistible if not as successful as it should have been, under the name of…the Kennedys, of course. Maybe the duo are known to many more for their work with Nanci Griffith than their own songs. The duo’s 2006 album of covers ‘Songs of the Open Road’ ranks as one of the best covers albums of all time, and for any lovers or latecomers to the Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs’ set of ‘Under The Cover’ albums, recently reissued as a box set, then check out ‘Songs of the Open Road.’ It has much the same vibe but a more eclectic set of songs. The Kennedys’ version of Dave Carter’s ‘Gypsy Road’ is up there with Tracy Grammer’s version and really needs to be heard along with any of the albums featuring the Kennedys’ original material. Even though ‘Villanelle’ is Maura’s second ‘solo’ album, the feeling is there that this collaboration with Californian poet B.D. Love was going to be a major departure from Maura’s previous work. And if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right? Without sounding too precious about it, the music that we’ve come to expect from Maura and Pete is as near to perfect as is possible so why mess with a winning formula? Pete also has a new solo out too by the way, ‘Heart Of Gotham’, but it’s Maura’s latest that concerns us here. From Maura’s side I guess it’s a challenge to set her music to B.D. Love’s poems. Love was given free reign to present his works in any form. From modern verse to tightly composed sonnets would be accepted. Maura’s part was to combine Love’s words into melodies without changing their form. Not an easy task even for a musician with Maura’s considerable talent. Like many music lovers I could listen to the Kennedys all day every day and still not get bored with the sound they create, so it was with some trepidation that I approached ‘Villanelle’. There are, thankfully, still traces of the Kennedys’ sound littered throughout this album, but, one thing is for sure, Maura has taken a chance here and tried to take her music in a different direction and has succeeded. The voice is still, obviously, that of Maura Kennedy, but Maura has risen to the challenge and produced an album that does take her in a new direction musically while throwing the occasional nod to the sounds she made with husband Pete. She’s taken a different turn, one that was maybe impossible within the framework of the Kennedys and one that shows a willingness to discover new horizons. The result is an inspiring set of songs which can stand proudly up there with the best of any of the previous projects Maura has been involved in. While the Kennedys can never be accused of standing still, the duo had certainly carved out their own little niche, one their fans were comfortable with and which obviously worked for the couple artistically too. They were not guilty of never taking chances but their fans knew what to expect from a Kennedys’ album and there’s nothing wrong with that. Where ‘Villanelle’ differs is that Maura has taken a major chance that, by teaming up with someone outside of her usual circle of musicians, the whole project could have fallen flat. The simple fact is that over fifteen songs which clock in at over an hour there’s not one single second that doesn’t count, not once where the listener is longing for Pete to make an appearance vocally although he does play a variety of instruments on the album so there’s still a connection to the Kennedys there. Maura produced the set, plays both electric and acoustic guitars as well as drums, ukulele, glockenspiel and keyboards, she wrote all the music and even wrote the lyrics to one song, ‘Fireflies’ which were inspired by B.D. Love. Maura also handles all the vocal parts. What ‘Villanelle’ proves without a single doubt is that while B.D. Love is a poet of no little worth, Maura Kennedy is one of contemporary music’s most underrated artists and ‘Villanelle’ is another chapter in an ever developing musical career and one which grows stronger each year. The fact is that B.D. Love covers subjects in his poems that would not usually fit into the structure of pop songs but Maura has, apparently, taken these poems and without changing their form to fit the music built melodies around them. The result is fully formed songs that sound like the two artists were working on them together at the same time rather than trying to piece together two very different pieces of art. While the listener will obviously get the most from listening to the songs intently, this music can be enjoyed at any time in any situation. It is pointless picking certain songs out for attention. While it’s no surprise that the album covers a lot of ground lyrically the same is also true of the styles Maura sets Love’s words to. Pop, rock, country and folk are all mixed in there somewhere. There’s even a piano-led torch song which conjures up visions of Maura singing in a sequined gown in ‘I’ll Be Alone Tonight’ as far removed from her work with the Kennedys as it’s possible to get but still it works so well. The breadth of genres crossed and subjects covered make for an inspired and rewarding album. The album even closes with a Christmas song, ‘Beneath the Mistletoe’, which sounds like it was imported in from a different age completely and, given that it receives enough exposure has all the marking of a future Christmas classic and one that will be rolled out every December. There is obviously so much more to Maura Kennedy than her work with Pete, as brilliant as that is, and it’s refreshing to hear an artist of Maura’s talent tackle pastures new and come out shining. ‘Villanelle’ is one of those albums where you can ‘drop the needle’ on any part of any track and be mightily impressed, so much so that you’ll want to start the album from the beginning anyway just to hear what you’ve missed.

Track Listing:-

1 Villanelle
2 Bicycles With Broken Spokes
3 Darling Cutter
4 I Cried To Dream Again
5 Fireflies
6 Soldier's Wife
7 Be The One
8 Mockingbird
9 She Worked Her Magic On Me
10 Borrowed Dress
11 Coyotes
12 Father To The Man
13 I'll Be Alone Tonight
14 Breathe Deeply, Love
15 Beneath The Mistletoe

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/Maura.Kennedy.Fan/
http://www.maurakennedy.com/
https://twitter.com/mauramauramaura
http://www.kennedysmusic.com/

Label Links:-

https://twitter.com/VareseSarabande
https://www.varesesarabande.com/
https://www.facebook.com/varesesarabanderecords
https://www.youtube.com/user/VareseSarabandeRecor
https://instagram.com/varesesarabande/

Post A Comment

---

Comment

Name

your name

Location

ie London, UK

Submit

Check box to submit

Adam Coxon
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson

Dixie Ernill
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart

Malcolm Carter
Marie Hazelwood
Mark Rowland
Nick Dent-Robinson
Nicky Crewe
Nige Nudds
Philamonjaro
Richard Lewis
Shirley Procter
Spencer Robertshaw
Steev Burgess
Steve Kinrade

Steve Miles
Tommy Gunnarsson
Zena Grieg