Track Listing

1. Other Side
2. Sure Enough
3. Hide From You
4. Way You Stay
5. Joining Another
6. Mighty Ship
7. Shape You
8. Red Alert
9. Worried Mind
10. For Design

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #130821 in Music
• Released on: 2008-09-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .16 pounds

CD Description
While Angela Desveaux's Thrill Jockey debut, WANDERING EYES, positioned her as kind of a Gillian Welch for the Cat Power set (or vice versa), her follow-up album, THE MIGHTY SHIP,abandons most of its predecessor's Americana trappings in favor of a more rock-oriented sound. Though there are still some moody acoustic ballads here, they seem less tied to rootsy templates, and the more electric/upbeat tracks show that Desveaux's warm voice and introspective lyricism translate just as well to an indie-rock approach.

Customer Reviews

Thrill Jockey release low on thrills
Angela Desveaux's second solo album is agreeable but very much old time country in the mould of Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn, mildly infused with Californian rock. Despite her Montreal and Nova Scotia background, Desveaux's musical origins are very much south of the Mason-Dixon Line. While she was championed on her first album (2006's Wandering Eyes) by the likes of Arcade Fire's Howard Bilerman, listeners expecting a more impressionistic (i.e., alt) take on country might find this a little too close to the middle of the road.

The ship imagery of 'The Mighty Ship' might hint at Win Butler's 'great black wave' or other menacing deep sea symbolism, but the sonic signifiers here are very much open highways, scorched asphalt, tumbleweeds, motels and diners - the shoreline palpably absent. This little paradox between Desveaux's oceanic thematic threads and the steel-pedal twang could have created an unusual fission but 'The Mighty Ship' mostly fizzles rather than sparks. The title track comes closest, its mythic balladry and sea shanty undertones intermingling with Americana in gently surprising ways. Desveaux has a classic country lilt to her singing, but lacks the power and emotional resonance of Neco Case or the sassy charm of, say, Lucinda Williams.

There are some individual moments of great beauty, mostly added-value guitar work sent to rescue otherwise ordinary songs. The brooding 'Worried Mind', for instance, has a long-slung solo deep in the mix, while the heartbreakingly despondent 'Joining Another' has some spine-tinglingly gorgeous guitar work. However, these moments are too few and far between in a record that is, while accomplished, rather innocuous. She sounds rather defeated on many songs while recounting tales of women caught in unhealthy relationships, but neither the words nor the delivery are quite clever or cutting enough.

First published at The Line of Best Fit.