Album Review: Deanna Cartea’s ‘Open Road’
Deanna Cartea is one of my favourite Coast musician. I stumbled across her remarkable sound during a summer Music in the Landing event in lower Gibsons, where she was playing in the back lane behind the Molly’s Lane Market. A handful of people were ringing her in white resin chairs – the perfect stationary vehicle for bodies in motion. It wasn’t possible to listen to Deanna’s excellent percussive chording and not move, and the give in those plastic chairs made for a full-body auditory experience. All with the backdrop of Gibsons Harbour and The Bluff behind. It was a spectacular late afternoon and Deanna was a spectacular discovery.
The music itself has a folk/indie sound, with living rhythms and individual string picking with strong narratives weaving in and out. But it’s Deanna’s voice that is the most captivating: smoky, bluesy, with a blend of innocence and gritty pragmatism for a unique sound.
Deanna’s first album, Open Road, is now complete and the launch party is this Saturday night (November 5th). I was lucky enough to get an advance copy and have let it steep in various settings – on my desktop sound system at work, on my iPhone on a cross-Canada trip, and on walks in the woods in a changeable autumn. The album is proving to be a good traveler.
The opening piece, for which the album is named, is a rocking introduction, with a great steel guitar undertone. It’s a different sound for the Deanna Cartea I know – the steel story and long percussive pauses marks the cynicism in the lyrics for this new take of you-done-me-wrong/I’m not looking back for a great blend.
Song on the Radio enters with a sweet, nostalgic riff and it takes a few bars for awareness of the song’s duality to sink in. “A song playing on the radio… and you’re picking up the pieces of the kitchen floor and the cards are all laid out.” Illusions flit through the lyrics and are echoed with interesting bass notes from the acoustic guitar and some echoing percussion for a layered piece.
Sit down and I’ll tell you a tale
The album offers a mix of energies and stories, and the musicianship lends voices to each track that differs them from each other. Deanna’s voice is easy to listen to so the album can stand on its own or makes for great background music.
The fourth track is a challenge, with a definite difference in the audio style. I’m not sure it was intentional but it sounds a bit far away and tunnelled, like the voice track wasn’t leveled the same as other songs, so It’s Another Day is a piece that doesn’t really gel for me.
One More Time is a groovy, groovy piece of music. It’s got a rollicking feel and takes me back to when I rode across Canada by train: a feeling of momentum, even when rolling across the unbroken prairie of Saskatchewan or Manitoba. The guitar licks are perfectly suited to the groove, and when Deanna sings “red wine and cigarettes’, by God, that’s what her voice sounds like, and each refrain wraps up with a satisfying synchronicity of voice and narrative in the music.
The wonderful surprise of Deanna Cartea
I recall hearing We’re in for the Night that day in Gibsons Landing with the August sun hot on my back, and Deanna up on a stoop by the Molly’s Reach sign and the bright painted background of the building framing her perfectly. This is a true Sunshine Coast song – peaceful and with a graceful energy; you can feel the ambience and spell of the Coast… dinner for two, fresh baked blackberry pie, and a night of simply being together. It’s a feeling that is increasingly harder to find in a world of cell phones and check-ins, and one my soul yearns for and feeds on.
The best songs for me are when Deanna lets go and fills the lyrics with smoky intensity and confidence, but that’s me being my usual action-oriented self. There’s plenty of introspective pieces for those who take their inspiration more on the zen side.
As someone who has played guitar for 40 years, I have a deep appreciation for artists who can use percussive chording and sly bending notes as counterpoint argument or supplications, and Deanna has that nailed. The layers of shimmering acoustics and stepped bridges lends a familiarity to the music’s path. It’s like being on a wander through the woods and finding side trails into cathedrals of dappled light, or mossy dark trails with stubbing roots or secret rustles in the leaves.
The more I listen to this album the more I like it. On the Edge, the last piece on the album, hustles me out of the forested meandering, with a chorus of voices to keep me company.
Well you can push it up or dig it out /
you can crawl on your knees and start to shout /
you can make a crazy haven in your head and not make a sound /
in the end you’re on the edge, staring down…
Tell it, sister. Give me that smoke and fire together and kick me around the table once or twice and I’ll love you forever.
BUY IT
Open Road is now available digitally at the following locations:
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/open-road/id475744697?i=475744701
or at:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/deannacartea
and on Deanna’s web site:
http://www.deannacartea.com/store.cfm
