Meg Baird - Seasons on Earth

  by Andrew Carver

published: 15 / 10 / 2011

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Review

Espers member Meg Baird has filled out her sound on solo album No. 2. She’s recruited expert guitar slingers Steve Gunn and Chris Forsyth, harpist Mary Lattimore and Sunburned Hand of the Man dobro player Marc Orleans. All these players are best known for playing with avant-garde and offbeat combos, and seem well in touch with their inner Incredible String Band on these recordings. Unlike her first album, ‘Dear Companion’ which was heavily weighted to covers, ‘Seasons on Earth has only two. The fingerpicked intro to ‘Babylon’ and the slight tremble in Baird’s force will put listeners in mind of 1960's English folk artists such as Vashti Bunyan. The minimal slide guitar and brief flourish of mandolin makes for a pleasant garnish. The vibe continues on tracks like ‘Stars Up the Vine’, which adds some raga-like sounds. On ‘Share’ the cries of steel guitar accompany strummed guitar and Baird’s breathy harmonized vocals. As effective as the crew she’s gathered is, Baird also shines on just voice and guitar, as on her cover of former Jon Mayall associates Mark-Almond’s ‘Friends’, which lands quite close to the original. It’s followed by a similar bare-bones version of House Of Love’s ‘Beatles and Stones’, which doesn’t miss the original’s Velvets-go-jazz backing in the least. Then it’s back to her own tunes and the re-emergence of Marc Orlean’s slide guitar, which centres ‘Finder’ and his resonating dobro on ‘The Land Turned Over’. ‘Stream’ is the most energetic song on the album, with full-throated strumming on the acoustic guitar and Orleans’ pedal steel, which also adds a spectral power to the song’s bridge. By the time ‘Song for Next Summer’ closes the album out, with Lattimore’s harp providing a beautiful shadow to Baird’s guitar, there’s no doubt Baird has cast a spell. Fans of 1960s folk, such as Sandy Denny, and modern practitioners such as Marissa Nadler should find much to enjoy.

Track Listing:-

1 Babyon
2 Stars Climb Up The Vine
3 Share
4 Even Rain
5 Friends
6 Beatles And The Stones
7 The Finder
8 The Land Turned Over
9 Stream
10 Song For Next Summer