Carnival [Import]

This is a phenomenal album that grows stronger w/each listen. From the opening, hypnotic "Colour of a Carnival" to the closing, heartfelt "Don't Look So Sad," there's nary a weak track. And while it's true that Kasey has eschewed some of the alt.country underpinnings of her previous works for a more mainstream approach, there's still plenty of twang here - "Light up a Candle," "Hard Road" and the hypnotic "Railroad," which chugs along a la Lucinda Williams' "Joy," wouldn't be out of place on her earlier albums. Other highlights include the rollicking "I Got You Now" and the absolutely divine "You Make Me Sing" ... plus "Dangerous," which - as all the songs here, actually - features a mesmerizing vocal. Perhaps that's why the change in sonic colourings almost seems a moot point. Her voice is such an expressive instrument that, regardless of context, you come away entranced. I do, at any rate.

Kasey is back with a new cd. She's stepped farther way from her country and alt/country roots and approached the rock-tinged, singer/songwriter sound with her considerable song writing talents intact. She's accomplished this with more success and sincerity than either the Dixie Chicks or Allison Moorer did in their recent releases.

Kasey's voice is as expressive and varied as ever--she can purr and she can wail (much like one of her most important influences-Nanci Griffith). She can be sad, she can be sexy, she can be exceedingly poignant. Nash Chambers has produced again and given Kasey a backdrop of electric guitars and percussion to sing against. She never gets lost, staying front and center on every song. Acoustic instruments do make strategic and affecting appearances-keyboards, strings and a harmonica.

Kasey's favorite themes are here--delivered with particular verve and originality: feisty happiness ("Sign on the Door," the sexy "You Make Me Sing"), contemplation of what could have been ("Colour of a Carnival," "Dangerous"), dealing with the bad men in her life ("Light up a Candle," "I Got You Now"), enduring the tough times ("Hard Road" which includes a lovely duet with Bernard Fanning, "Nothing at All," and the intoxicating but strange "Railroad"), and finding a brighter tomorrow or the hope of one ("The Rain," "Surrender," and "Don't Look So Sad").

Kasey remains an original and a treasure.

"I got a sign on the door that says Lonely don't live here anymore."

It was about time the spell Kasey Chambers originally cast on me wore off - I'd become a huge fan of The Captain and Barricades & Brickwalls, but there was all something a little nagging about even those two very good records. Chambers, a unique betty boop squeak of a voice, was a lustrous presence in rootsy contexts, and the best moments of those records were snarky updates on an old form, but the worst moments were forgettable alt-country duldrums of patched together cliches. Wayward Angel, Chambers' third album, had some great songs on it, but its pop and country predictability overtook a good half of the album. Carnival shows Chambers at her weakest - sad girl anthems of generic empowerment about the rain, bad girl anthems of doin-wrong that sound about as risky as songs on The Disney channel's afternoon lineup. "Light Up A Candle" fakes its slinkiness and turns dull, "Surrender" adds a Dido production of drum machines and computer bleeps that don't mask the song's epic ordinariness, ballads like "Dangerous" limp along to their own generic lethargy. Chambers isn't without charm - "Sign On The Door" and "I Got You Now" are impossible to not find fun - yet Chambers worst instincts as a song writer threaten to take over even the good songs - "Hard Road," a sad and moving movie-ready duet, borders on self-parody - lines like "There's a heavy jacket/ there's a heavy load/ there's a weight on my shoulders/ it's a hard road" read like a laundry list of related lines from every sad and moving movie-ready song you've ever heard.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews  3.3 out of 5 stars