Good Lord! Can this really be the Wailin' Jennys? The Wailin' Jennys
40 Days
Jericho Beach Music
JBM 0403
Good Lord! Can this really be the Wailin' Jennys? The same Wailin' Jennys who made such a disparately ragged, ad-hoc, six-song debut a year or so back?
While that initial recording showed flashes of true promise, it also had a threadbare, disjointed quality about it as Cara Luft, Nicky Mehta and Ruth Moody struggled to find common ground. But time has galvanized them into an inspired creative unit and their gorgeous harmonies have grown even more intricate. The proof on Moody's divine, One Voice, and the evergreen traditional heartbreaker, The Parting Glass, is nothing short of spectacular. Those wonderfully emotional voices of theirs lie somewhere between The Roches and the Silly Sisters but grounded in an absolute belief in their own abilities.
Their attachment to the tradition includes the mischieous Saucy Sailor. Obviously, Luft's pungent Come All You Sailors draws its inspiration from the same well. There's also a clever cover of John Hiatt's Take It Down. But their attempt at Neil Young's Old Man never quite puts enough distance between the original. A minor set back though, more than aptly eradicated by Nicky Mehta's brilliant, Arlington, which unearths a truly impressive new writing talent.
Immaculately produced by David Travers-Smith (Harry Manx & Kevin Breit) 40 Days ought to place the Jennys on the same pedestal as the Be Good Tanyas. The first major Canadian folk-roots recording of the year has officially arrived.