I started to listen to this album on the day that Gordon Lightfoot died, so I’m hoping that there isn’t some kind of omen in that. Bruce Cockburn occupies a similar space to Gordon Lightfoot as a legendary Canadian singer-songwriter in the folk idiom. Bruce is approaching his 78th birthday but still has the impulse to keep writing, recording and performing. ‘O Sun O Moon’ is proof that the quality of his work hasn’t diminished. The twelve tracks on the album are all built around acoustic guitars, but manage to show tremendous musical and lyrical variety. Here are a couple of examples.
‘King of the Bolero’ is the story of an itinerant blues picker “pulling visceral sounds from a no-name guitar” who’s based loosely on a player who was on the local circuit during Bruce’s high school years. It opens with finger-picked guitar and accordion in a shuffling lounge jazz style, adds some trumpet, mandolin and dulcimer along the way before the chorus cuts in with a New Orleans horn section. It’s all a bit surreal and dreamlike. ‘O Sun by Day, O Moon by Night’ is actually based on a vivid dream that Bruce had about his journey to Heaven and has spoken verses over a jazzy background and full-on New Orleans funeral horns accentuating the chorus. Mortality’s a bit of theme towards the end of the album; the closing song ‘When You Arrive’ is about reaching the end of life, while the message of ‘When the Spirit Walks’ is that when the end comes, it doesn’t matter who you were, you’re now just another thread in the fabric of history. The ethereal harmonies and insistent refrain of ‘Colin Went Down to the Water’ tell the story of a friend who died while Bruce was in Maui on vacation last year.
Don’t get the wrong idea; the album isn’t all about death. The album’s opener, ‘On A Roll’ takes a lively look at the march of time and the fact that we can still keep creating if we’re still on a roll. Bruce’s humanity shines through on in ‘Us All’ with a guitar, strings and glockenspiel arrangement and a vocal that hints at Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile and the album’s second song, ‘Orders’ moves into unusually political territory with references to people that we’re all expected to love, including ‘The pastor preaching shades of hate, the self-inflating head of state’; it’s powerful stuff. Then there’s the ecological warning in the apocalyptic ‘To Keep the World We Know’, co-written with Susan Aglukark who sings harmonies on the song; it’s a clear message about worldwide climate change that we can’t afford to ignore.
‘O Sun O Moon’ is the work of an accomplished writer and performer in his senior years who still has plenty of fire in his belly. The playing is superb throughout and Bruce’s lyrics are perfect examples of concise brevity, where less is more. There’s a perfect example in ‘When You Arrive’ where the scene is set by the couplet: “Breakfast was Mahler and coffee, dinner’s Lightning Hopkins and rye”; there’s so much meaning packed into those ten words. This is an album you need to hear.
If you want to catch him live in the UK Bruce is touring in August with dates at Oxford O2 Academy (24th), Shepherd’s Bush Empire (25th) and Greenbelt Festival (26th). I might even see you at one of those.
‘O Sun O Moon’ is out in the UK on Friday May 12th on True North Records (TND811/TND811V).
Here’s the video for the album’s opener, ‘On A Roll’:
It’s no surprise that “Life Stories” is autobiographical; the title is a bit of a giveaway. Mary Coughlan’s renowned for her unflinching honesty and this album has its painfully candid moments, but there’s a healthy seasoning of musical and lyrical humour for contrast. I’m using autobiographical a bit loosely here; there are a few interpretations in addition to Mary’s co-writes, but they’re all carefully chosen to fit in with the overall themes of the album.
A perfect example is the album’s opener “Family Life” which touches on dysfunctional families and religion. It’s obvious from the first few bars that it’s a Blue Nile (Paul Buchanan) song but Mary’s incredible voice immediately marks it as her own. And that voice; the obvious and over-used comparison is Billie Holiday, but it’s still valid. The richness and resonance of Mary’s voice and the exquisite phrasing are the magic ingredients that bring the songs to life. That and the quality of the musicians and arrangements. The band moves seamlessly between the slow ballad stylings of “Elbow Deep” and “No Jericho” the swing of “High Heel Boots” and “Forward Bound”, and the sixties chanteuse pop of “Two Breaking Into One” as the album ebbs and flows on its journey. The only aim of the band is to serve the song and to give Mary the best setting for her potent vocal delivery.
Although Mary has the reputation of being harrowingly honest, there’s also a lot of humour running through the album. “High Heel Shoes” hints at “These Boots Were Made for Walking” and the late Kirsty MacColl’s fabulous “In These Shoes”, while George Gershwin’s “Do It Again” is given a cheeky intro with the very short Cole Porter pastiche “Little Dance”. And the album’s closing song “Twelve Steps Forward, Ten Steps Back” takes a humorous swipe at the addiction recovery process. I want to read a positive approach into it because there’s a gain of two steps. The slow ballad “Safe and Sound” also shines a positive light contrasting Mary’s troubled past with the love she feels for her own children and grand-children.
Two of the darker songs on the are interpretations of songs by other Irish writers. “Elbow Deep” is a Karrie O’Sullivan song about the young Irish women abandoned by their families after indiscretions and “No Jericho” is a Susan McKeown song, stripped back to a slow piano and upright bass arrangement that leaves plenty of space for an intimate vocal interpretation.
“Life Stories” is one of the best albums I’ve heard this year. It’s a journey from pessimism to optimism with occasional flashbacks and doesn’t ignore the fact that even the most horrific journeys can have their humorous twists and turns. It’s a fine set of musicians creating settings that make these twelve diamonds sparkle.
“Life Stories” is released in the UK on Friday September 4th on Hail Mary Records (HM002CD).
