Some of you may not know of Sarah Siskind, a gifted singer-songwriter working out of Nashville. She's had songs covered by Alison Krauss and has been covered by Bon Iver and Paul Brady. She has also opened for Over the Rhine (where, at the concert at the Old Town School, she borrowed a guitar pick from me after losing hers. Hey, I'm all about full disclosure).
I became a fan of hers at that Over the Rhine concert. I was pleasantly surprised at her songwriting skills, and she has a powerful, emotional voice as well. I found her CD "Say It Louder," to be a solid mix of country, Americana, folk, and rock. The CD was more than just a keepsake - it received considerable playing time on the CD player at home and the car.
In late 2011 she came out with "Novel," and that may have surpassed her earlier effort. "Novel" again features Sarah's original songs (with one cover, the gospel traditional "Didn't It Rain"). Like Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska," Sarah found that rather than have a band play her songs, she'd be best off putting her own stamp on things. Sarah handled production duties in addition to playing all the instruments (percussion is rather sparse on this album, so "Novel" has a strong folk flavor to it).
Again, the album covers a broad range of styles. "Yellow and Blue" puts the vocals up front against a sparse guitar background. There are some rockers here as well - "Take Me" has a sense of urgency that matches the lyrical plea to be loved ("Someone's got to come down here and take me for theirs / I'm about to lose my breath"), and "I Think About Love" has a galluping beat with intermittent yet effective harmony vocals. "Crying on a Plane" has a soulful, torchy feel (think Beth Nielsen Chapman) with the perfect balance of piano and guitar, and Siskind smartly refrains from letting the arrangement fall into overblown cliche. "You're Still There" somehow blends country and folk into a perfect seam, and the song stretches a little, airing itself out like a car ride with the top down. "Rescue You" again shows Siskind in a sultry 3/4 mood, but her voice loses none of its power. And kudos to Sarah for keeping the bluesy shuffle of "Didn't It Rain" to a 3:22. It's obvious that she has a love for this kind of music and could probably sing the song all day if she had a chance.
Again, Sarah Siskind has created an album that defies easy definition and gets "heavy rotation" in the Alspach household. Now if she'd only give my back my guitar pick...
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