| "The
very pleasing Birdman, is the third solo album by
Texas singer/songwriter Sarah Pierce. A delicate and lightly smooth songwriter,
Pierce also shows good taste in arranging these twelve songs. Her vocal
timbre (it's sweet but it also shows an energetic presence when needed)
fits perfectly well with her writing style and her arrangements, placing
herself somewhere in between the tradition of singers like Emmylou Harris
and writers like Nanci Griffiths (hear the wonderfully sophisticated ballad
Marjorie),
not forgetting the great Shawn Colvin. Pierce is enchanting when handling
country, or better, country rock tinged songs like the soothing
Talking
With You, or when she elegantly sails the stormy seas of a roughly
crafted honky tonk like Coffee Shop. But in the end it is in tracks
like Anything Goes (an electro-acoustic mid-tempo with an absolutely
gorgeous melody) that Sarah gives her best. The album closes with a cover
of the superclassic What A Wonderful World: it's a remake that does
not surprise me for its innovation, but Pierce’s interpretation shows a
discrete maturity. Sarah Pierce will tour Italy between May 1st and 10th
(contact: canny@scabin.com).
Rate: 7/8
Ezio Guaitamacchi - JAM n°59, april 2000 (Translation by Marco Grompi) |