Kathleen Edwards - Back To Me

Genre alt-country Publisher Zoe / Rounder Records External Links Official Website Rounder Records Group

Back To Me is the second album by Canadian folk-rock singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards after 2003's well-received Failer. The title track is the album's first single, and by far the catchiest, liveliest tune. "I've got ways to make you come / back to me!" threatens Edwards, with heft and weight behind her voice. The song hints at a variety of tactics the singer has at her disposal to make life miserable for a wayward paramour. It's amusing and a little scary. Unfortunately, the weight and power of her voice is restrained on most of the rest of the album. She seems to prefer using her indoor voice, which wavers and warbles, sometimes sounding Bjork-esque.

In general, Edwards is at her best when she keeps the level of lyrical detail high. "Pink Emerson Radio" slowly unfolds a description of a room -- the wall coloring, what's on the record player, keys on a hook to a truck sold years ago. The last verse holds a surprise that puts the rest of the song in focus. "Copied Keys" and "Somewhere Else" both exhibit the tone of impermanence and dislocation that runs through this album. On the former, Edwards sings, "This is not my town and it never will be ... This is your life / I get copied keys," and the latter declares "Bit by bit I swear I think I'm losing / all this city's confidence." Neither one, though, makes much of an impact musically.

"Summer Long" takes a teenager's point of view to sing about a summer romance that might have been. The adolescent voice comes through in lines like "All the talk of what it could be / when it never was," but even in character, it's still cliched. Kind of like the guitar solos sprinkled throughout the album: bland without being bad, they seem like a formality, or an exercise, rather than heartfelt music-making. This is why some of the songs aren't more memorable-- they all have a similar sound palette consisting of acoustic guitar, organ or slide guitar, and Edwards' indoor voice. Another rocker like the title track would have really kept the second half of the album moving, and made Back To Me a more worthy successor to Failer.