[2008-01-22] Patty Larkin "Watch The Sky" (Vanguard)

Linda · **Posted:** Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:10 pm

Amazon.com
"Traveling alone is a wonderful thing," sings Patty Larkin on her first album of original material in five years. She means it. As producer, mixer, writer, and the only musician involved, Larkin embarks on as much a solo project as you can get. The veteran folkie plays everything from bass to baritone guitar, banjo, and bazouki on these 12 introspective tracks. Some, like "Hallelujah" and the opening "Phone Message," are driven by subtle, loping drum loops. Everything is overdubbed, including Larkin’s lovely, dusky singing, but there is never an insular feel to this atmospheric set. With its bubbling percussion, dissonant bluesy slide guitar, and spooky vibe, "Beautiful" tells of walking in a park with a somewhat ominous musical undercurrent to lyrics that infer, but don’t specify, impending danger. Larkin plays more conventional folk guitar on "Dear Heart," but on the most arresting songs, she pushes and prods the sound--and her layered vocals--in more experimental, less traditional directions. The tinge of Billie Holiday even creeps into her voice on "Walking in my Sleep," one of the project’s most compelling moments. This music demands time and attention. It unravels gracefully and gradually, repeated spins yielding previously hidden details that drift over the listener like a humid fog on a summer’s morning. --Hal Horowitz

1. Phone Message
2. Cover Me
3. Hallelujah
4. Beautiful
5. Dear Heart
6. Hollywood
7. Walking In My Sleep
8. All Souls Day
9. Bound Brook
10. Travelling Alone
11. Here
12. Waterside

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ZJ2ZN6/?tag=imwan-20

Renny · 26 Jun 2006

linda,

patty larkin is an odd one for me.

i have 5 or 6 of her CD's.

i like her voice and i like the songs, yet i never listen to her stuff after the initial listen.

weird huh?

renny

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

I like Patty Larkin also.

Pip · **Joined:** 16 Aug 2004 **Posts:** 2921

Do you know she encourages people to knit at her concerts? She says if she were in the audience, she'd be knitting, too.

Linda · **Posted:** Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:07 pm

Renny, maybe if you knitted you'd want to listen more than once?

Renny · 26 Jun 2006

Linda wrote:

Renny, maybe if you knitted you'd want to listen more than once?

linda,

i actually have no response to that!

renny

[2008-01-22] Patty Larkin "Watch The Sky" (Vanguard)

Who is WANline