Tuesday 24 May 2011
Shine on my mind
Reading Kate Maki‘s biography, I get the sense that she and I are kindred spirits. Both us of are grade school teachers by day, and spend our evenings and nights pursuing a creative calling. Moonshine is her fifth record, a sometimes delicate, introspective country/folk record that is as effortless as it is engaging.
“The Signal” is the kind of song that’s perfect for quiet nights alone: a little boozy, lovelorn ditty that sparks memories and emotions that usually stay buried while the sun is out. “Boredom Blues” is a classic country lament about life in slow motion that showcases her pearly voice. There’s no histrionics or pretension in her singing and lyrics; Maki just delivers the goods with a straight-ahead no nonsense approach that’s refreshing and pure.
The songs sound very much like they were born out of that solitary state of reflection and recollection even though Maki’s list of collaborators is extensive and impressive: Brent Randall (The Pinecones), Dale Murray (Cuff The Duke), Dan Levecque, David McKinnon (Fembots), Nathan Lawr (The Minotaurs) and Paul Lowman (Cuff The Duke) joined her around a single mic in the basement of her Sudbury, Ontario home to record Moonshine. Not being familiar with her previous work aside her recent collaboration with Frederick Squire, I find Moonshine to be an endearing record that’s been a pleasant surprise. This is an album I’ll be revisiting a lot in the coming weeks.
Moonshine is out today on Confusion Unlimited. Maki’s store page on her website has a number of links where you can pick it up for yourself.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 24th, 2011 at 8:35 am and is filed under MP3, QBiM SPiNS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Elliott BROOD
