You could light a fire with Lo Carmen’s voice, it’s so flinty.
Mixed with her inspired lyrics, and the tinder of some of the best music-makers gathered in Nashville, you’ll soon find yourself huddling around a campfire mulling the mutability of love and warming your whisky.
Ten tracks. Ten love songs. Many penned by Carmen alone at night on a porch in rural Georgia.
“You Never Learned How to Dance” is the perfect slow-dance for a lone couple shuffling and nuzzling, intimate and sexy.
In “Put Another Record On” lovers who’d once met above a record shop and played vinyl together are now parted. The woman is convinced they can still slip into their favourite song to find connection.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy croons a duet with Carmen on “Sometimes It’s Hard” – a sweltering song about the hard yards done in a relationship to stay the distance.
“A Tree in Winter” is another beautiful ballad that explores how it feels for one partner to remain steadfast while the other one wanders – and the mandolin and violin twist silkily to support the song’s sublime imagery.
Australian born, US-based singer-songwriter Carmen says she felt “spookily in sync” with the other musical luminaries that contributed to her sixth solo studio album. Talent included Dave Roe (bass), Russ Pahl (pedal steel and guitar) and David “Ferg” Ferguson from the Butcher Shoppe recording studio.
All the elements (sticks, brushes, guitars, tambourines, backing vocals, near-spoken phrases and much more) combine to create a magic and melancholy that’s unforgettable.
At the centre of this alchemy is Carmen. Her torch shines brightly.
