KEY POINTS:
Rating: * *
A quick flick through the cover insert of Sandi Thom's new album The Pink and the Lily sums up everything you need to know about the record. Pictures of Thom
in a straw stetson reveal the album's strong country flavour, while a
backstage snap of Thom and friends clapping heartily to a singalong,
encapsulates the hokey tone of the record.
It's a tone that is all-too-familiar from Thom's first record Smile... It Confuses People,
pining for a bygone era and them good ol' days. A strange sentiment for
a 26-year-old who hasn't lived through the days she sings about.
Musically, the album is also more of the same.
The acapella opening of Success' Ladder is a carbon copy of I Wish I was a Punk Rocker, while the rest of the 13-track offering serves up yet more hand claps, tambourines and slow drum rolls.
Thom has just two songwriting modes; happy and defiant (The Devil's Beat, 'm a Human Being) or sultry and wistful (Wounded Hearts, Mirrors). Though the second category produces Thom's better offerings, they are nothing exceptional.
When
Thom shot to fame two years ago, webcasting a series of "concerts" from
her basement, her enterprising back story garnered more attention than
her music.
With that novelty factor removed, all eyes are on Thom's music alone, leaving The Pink and the Lily to wilt in the spotlight.
Joanna Hunkin
