2005/04/21  Carling Academy Islington; London, UK Melancholy journey back to me On the last date of her UK tour, the Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards strode out on to the stage at a packed Islington Academy and launched straight into Pink Emerson Radio from Failer, her critically acclaimed debut album of 2003, a melancholy look back at an apartment fire and the loss of possessions.   This signalled the start of a trawl through Edwards's life and emotions, glimpsed through musical and lyrical peep-holes; a life perhaps darker and seamier than her well-scrubbed but slightly rebellious student appearance suggests. State, the first from the current Back To Me album, provided evidence of the band's solid ability, with twanging Gibson and Rickenbacker guitars from Colin Cripps, who favours the deeper registers, rarely straying up to the dusty higher frets. The competent rhythm section of Kevin McCarragher on bass and Joel Anderson on drums, were assisted by Jim Bryson, writer of Somewhere Else on Back To Me, on keyboards. Somewhere Else was a jangling rocker, with some of Edwards's beloved Tom Petty influences showing through in its production. Together with musicologist Phil Collinson, a good few moments were spent picking out the splinters of Edwards's musical subscript: Petty, Neil Young (paid tribute to in a cover of Harvest Moon's Unknown Legend) and even shades of the later Fleetwood Mac. The Back To Me album was the mainstay of the set, but Edwards returned to the glorious Failer for some of the night's best tunes: Six O'Clock News is a confluence of all her absorbed styles, with a catchy descending guitar riff and a foot-tapping drive. Also from her debut, Mercury with just Edwards and Bryson on guitars, portraying her at her most wistful, hollowed out of voice and forging a strong connection with the crowd. There seemed little of the "country" influence, with Summerlong's open C chord shapes and Cripps's softly moaning pedal-steel volume swells from the Rickenbacker perhaps closest to that style. Edwards's acoustic numbers included Old Time Sake, a sparse ballad full of longing, building into a full arrangement via Bryson's keyboard. For her encore, Edwards chose Away, plaintive with hammered acoustic lines, hinting again at deeper, paradoxical moments from her past; a return to or a journey from home to somewhere and back again. The dismissively-named One More Song The Radio Won't Like, a folk-rocker with a Springsteen growl, took us full-circle to Failer, and the start of Kathleen Edwards's journey. Roger Bentley telegraph.co.uk				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews