[.ca] Old Low Light

From Amazon.co.uk:
Old Low Light arrives two years on from the surprise Mercury Music Prize nomination of Kathryn Williams' sophomore album, Little Black Numbers, and the feisty songstress has arisen with her gorgeous brand of tender folk intact. But while this, her major label debut, is as musically sparse and lyrically intimate as any of her previous work, the subject matter is often several shades darker. While covering everything from death to loneliness, Williams' unpretentious outlook and self-effacing wry wit make for an enchanting narrative. "No One Takes You Home" is a perfect example: "You've watched all the romance on your television / It's too much to bear you got to get a new sort of vision / You've done your best at the gym, you got your lip gloss on / You're going to the doctor's to see if it's a medical problem." Elsewhere the leaden strings and gloomy subject matter of "Wolf" casts a low shadow while Williams recalls her obsessive first sexual partner. But the overall feel of Old Low Light is one of breezy introspection. Too often compared to folk-legend Nick Drake--his ingenuity with a fretboard is difficult to beat--Williams does have a similarly deft touch when it comes to laying an evocative, pastoral acoustic melody over melancholy soul searching. Equally suitable company for a night in with a bottle of wine or a weekend spent speeding down country lanes, Old Low Light is something to cherish. --Christopher Barrett

Chronique amazon.fr:
Avec deux albums dans la musette, Kathryn Williams, auteur compositeur interprète originaire de Liverpool, reste honteusement sous-estimée malgré une nomination au Mercury Music Prize en 2000 avec le délicatement introspectif Little Black Numbers. Aidé par un physique généreux et une voix juvénile, la donzelle livre sans prétention de tendres mélodies nourries de paroles douces-amères "On For You" ou "Devices". Portant, comme sa compatriote Beth Orton, un dossard neo-folk hérité de Nick Drake, elle a choisi l'option tout acoustique - guitare, contrebasse, parfois agrémentées d'un clavier ou d'un violoncelle "tradition" - pour tout accompagnement. Old Low Light, son troisième album, même produit par Head, compagnon de route de PJ Harvey, ne déroge pas à la règle. Les ritournelles, écho pastoral à ses préoccupations intimistes, conservent leur marque artisanale. De la belle ouvrage pour 42 minutes de félicité. --Sabrina Silamo

• Little Black Numbers
• White, Blue and Red
• Mirrorball
• Devices
• Daydream and Saunter
• Beatles
• Wolf
• Tradition
• Swimmer
• On for You
• No One Takes You Home
• 3am Phonecall