Amelia Curran

This is the strongest and most committed album I’ve heard from Curran – less of the classic folky and more of the strident activist. It works on just about every level and I found myself deeply immersed in her stories and emoting.

Curran is heavily involved in the Canadian mental health movement, fighting for the rights of those in the arts with mental issues through her ‘It’s Mental’ grassroots community in her home town.
In fact she represents the darker face of depression in the opener ‘Move A Mile’ which sounds upbeat until a strong drum beat and that gorgeous voice sings of her familiarity with the darkness and her fight to overcome it.

The title track tells of the turning point where she began to win the fight – the literal watershed – and musically there is a driving urgency in the guitars and drums over an insistent bass line that nags away at the listener’s ear until it finally emerges from the mix.

Ms Curran has been winning awards and making great music through 7 previous albums but I can’t remember her sounding as focused and directed as she does on tracks such as ‘No More Quiet’ and the horns and jangling guitars lift the track to a place she normally shies away from.

There is real beauty as well as exemplified on the closing track ‘You Have Got Each Other’ – just simple and sweetly played and with a lilting, almost lullaby, feeling to it.

Don’t make the mistake of imagining that this is a dark and downbeat album – the subject matter is but musically she is on top of it and the end result is rather lovely and works on every level.