Kathleen Edwards - Failer in a few months, those pesky 'top ten albums of the year" lists will be glutting up the media. some of them probably won't have this record in the #1 slot. those will be the lists you can ignore. in 1999 kathleen edwards put out an interesting little mini album of artsy, rootsy, country-folk-pop called building 55. equally engaging and obtuse, it only hinted at the depths of this first full-length release. the vocal affectations that gave 55 a pinch of pretentiousness have been replaced by a stronger, more assured delivery that still aches with the honest vulnerability that makes edwards' work so addictive. this record originally came out indie-style earlier this year and is just now being released with major distribution. curiously, the remix on this new global edition noticeably flattens the instrumentation of the original, but if you haven't listened to that version a kagillion times, don't worry about it ­ the songs remain stellar. sarah harmer (who, incidentally, she shares management with) is a lazy comparison, just because kathleen neither fits amongst the techno-pop-hippie trips of sarah slean, martina sobara or emm gryner. she's a lot tougher than that. "lucinda williams minus the twang" is a good one, but lucinda wasn't half this cool at 23. the equally fabulous jim bryson, somewhat of a mentor who appears throughout the recording, is a closer pick. you may have heard 'hockey skates' on the the soundtrack to men with brooms awhile back. it's a great song here that presumably started out as a bit of an apology to the slighted fellow ottawaian band starling, who she gloriously slammed on a track on building 55, but it quickly devolves into a great bit of "awww, fuck ya anyway" ness. ironically, kathleen appears at the wecc on october 17th opening up for ex-starling member danny michel. miss that show at your peril. stu reid stylusmagazine.com				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews