DAVE'S DIARY - 3 JANUARY 2007 - KASEY CHAMBERS CD REVIEW
KASEY
CHAMBERS CD REVIEW - 2006
KASEY CHAMBERS
CARNIVAL (ESSENCE-CAPITOL)
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It's
ironic that at the ripe old age of 30 - when refried rockers look
to country as a soft genre to fall - Kasey Chambers chose a role reversal. The singer hasn't exactly bolted the stable door and drowned in the quicksand at the shallow end of the rock jungle. On initial listening to Chambers fourth album there's little aural roughage to sate the staple diet of fans reared on her hard-edged country. But, unlike identikit pop peers, the voice is unique enough to entice listeners to her flame. |
Debut single and album entrée Colour Of A Carnival sets an ambient mood without the passion of the energised Sign On The Door and pathos primed The Rain.
There's a sardonic sting to Light Up A Candle that repeats in tallow-tinged
imagery of the melodic Nothing At All.
Chambers exudes a surrealistic charm on Railroad but descends into
that pop irritant - lyrical repetition.
Much more enjoyable are Dangerous, replete with biblical metaphor,
and joyous You Make Me Sing - arguably the album's towering peak.
Equally accessible is a duet with Bernard Fanning on redemptive, sin stained
imagery of Hard Road.
SURRENDER
It works
better than hook heavy I Got You Now - a generic refried rocker
with Tim Rogers - and disposable pop of Surrender.
But they are small glitches for this genuine talent whose fitting finale
is the evocative Don't Look So Sad that exploits a unique voice.
Producer Nash Chambers diluted country instrumentation in an attempt to
invade the rock radio fortress but the real test is whether the songs
stand the test of time.
But if the artist is tossed aside by pop's fickle fashion flunkeys she
has the talent and hopefully the songs to appease the loyal country genre.