4/5 Maverick Magazine
A quirky time machine trip back to the 1940s
I’m not sure how or why this ended up at Maverick Towers. It doesn’t fall into the bracket I expect to hear or read about in these hallowed pages…but…it’s very good – so, listen up.
Carr’s unmistakeably English vocals are of the distinctive type that might just switch you off at the first few bars. Here, Carr sings tales from the 1940s, with the subject matter including a young Marlene Dietrich; a suicidal war widow; and the true story of an escape from Auschwitz, all in a breathy and often understated voice. Utilising folk instruments, such as accordion and acoustic guitars, Carr fuses them with modern electronica sounds to create an intriguing musical canvas that is at times epic and others as subtle and beautiful as an old fashioned music box.
While at times sounding like Joni Mitchell’s jazzier days or a more sane Kate Bush, Carr even drifts into the realms of soundtracks that wouldn’t be amiss on a Tom Waits album. Undoubtedly, Katy Carr has a sound all of her own. The opening track Star Song reaches stratospheric heights, setting a standard that the remainder of the album mostly keeps up with (Berliner Ring being one of the weaker tracks and a definite exception).
As an aside, if there were a series of awards for album artwork and packaging, I’d be nominating this. The sleeve folds out to be a double-sided work of art, with 1940s cartoonised images by the excellent Susan Burghart. Tied into each of the album’s track titles, the imagery is, like the music, really quite striking and intriguing.