Album Review: Edie Brickell Edie Brickell

Cover for Edie Brickell's self titled album. Photo / Supplied

Rating: 3/5
Verdict: More low-key, and pleasant originals without much grip

Brickell's debut album with the New Bohemians - the quietly delightful neo-folk Shooting Rubber Bands at the Stars - was over 20 years ago and it's fair to observe she hasn't had anything like the profile since as a solo artist, when the band reformed, or in the short-lived Heavy Circles with her stepson Harper Simon (yes, in the early 90s she married his dad Paul) and guests Sean Lennon, Martha Wainwright and others.

Not blessed with the most distinctive of voices, Brickell has always been at her best when delivering world-weary and/or slightly angry songs (Circle on Rubber Bands with "That's it I quit, I give up, nothing's good enough for anybody else") and she brings that to bear on the finely honed, gentle jangle-pop and social comment of Pill ("You can't pay attention/can't get it up ... they got a pill for that").

There's a slightly soulful tone on the more punchy Been So Good, but Always is slight and unworthy (redeemed only by Carter Albrecht's piano work). Waiting for Me is one of those neo-boho songs which goes right back to her origins, and It Takes Love is a simple string-coloured ballad. Bad Way is an ambitious and dark narrative.

Tastefully produced by Charlie Sexton, this album shows Brickell hasn't lost her melodic touch but not enough here grips to make this anything more than a pleasant diversion.

Graham Reid (elsewhere.co.nz)