Eliza Carthy would have made a great punk rocker. Electric blue tendrils frame her face, studded with piercings like the provocative topics that sprout from her lyrics. But she wields an instrument punk rockers would find unfamiliar: the fiddle.
Her new album, Angels and Cigarettes, is a progressive marriage of folk and pop. Carthy has arrived at mainstream’s front door bearing the fruits of her many years of labor as a folk musician. Like any fruit basket Angels and Cigarettes is bound to contain something you like.
Carthy grew up in Britain, immersed in folk music. She played the fiddle in her parents’ band, Waterson: Carthy. Angels and Cigarettes is Carthy’s fourth full-length solo release, but it is being crowned her crossover album. Carthy sings and plays the fiddle and other string instruments. The addition of pop to her potion may indeed attract more listeners, but only certain parts of this album radiate with quality.
“Whispers of Summer” opens up the album with an infectious lilt. It sounds like the middle of July, with a bittersweet chorus about summer love, “this warm breeze is clogging my eyes.”
Carthy’s fiddling has the authentic sound of a musician entertaining down at the local pub. The chorus is harmonized with a few additional tracks of Carthy’s vocals in order to boost the intensity and richness of her voice.
All the songs on the album contain layering of vocal tracks, usually during the chorus. Although this can enrich the sound, it becomes dizzying after awhile. Carthy’s virtuosity at the fiddle compensates for some of the bland vocal lines, but others remain either flat or drown in harmony.
A successful example of vocal layering occurs on the second track, “Train Song.” This song resembles the velvety sound of Sarah McLachlan’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. Carthy reveals in the liner notes that this song is a story that is “probably fantasy, a non developmental pursuit.” She chants, “I’m in trouble `cos I’ve been watching/ watching from your bedroom window/ and I don’t want to see you alone no more.”
“Beautiful Girl” asserts itself as one of the album’s shining moments. Its commentary about beauty in our society flourishes within this complex song. It is a pretty song that incorporates zinging and electronic sounds that modernize the feel of the tune. The lyrics reflect empathy for beautiful people who have been stereotyped, and distaste for society’s claim that beauty is paramount. “And the fun never ends and her friends say she’s oh such a lovely lass/ wait `til she ages and maybe they’ll say how she’s losing all her class.”
“Whole” is a funky, R&B track, a sexy example of Carthy’s vocal talent. She laments, “I could climb all the way inside you and be you for a day.” Its chorus is catchy and emotive, a highlight of the album. Angels and Cigarettes slips toward self-absorption in the second half of the album salvaged only by the amazing string arrangements that appear in curious places. “The Company of Men” is a blunt soliloquy of a song that belongs in a campy musical, not this album, and its presence is only slightly amusing. Carthy needs to be better acclimated to the pop landscape before she can reach her peak, but anyone looking for edgy folk talent will enjoy Angels and Cigarettes’ beauty and antics. A-
