True North Records (label)
12 September 2011 (released)
13 October 2011
Blessed with a voice that is somewhere between the more mainstream Sheryl Crow and lesser known Kim Richey, Canadian country-folk star Catherine MacLellan has a rich family history to live up to. Her father, Gene, wrote songs that the likes of Elvis Presley and Joan Baez recorded. Most famously Snowbird was a hit for Anne Murray on both sides of the Atlantic in 1970 and won a number of awards.
That song features here on Catherine’s fourth solo outing and her most accessible and commercial. Snowbird’s tale of heartache is given a lighter but more polished sheen than Anne Murray’s version, with the imagery of flying to be with your loved one just that little bit more touching, given the death of her father in 1995.
The song is deliberately placed towards the end of Silhouette, which is the first album that doesn’t include direct references to his death. Snowbird should not be seen as a centrepiece, because it is not the best thing here, by a long way. For the recording Catherine shut herself away with long-time friends and musical collaborators in rural Prince Edward Island, and there’s a warm homely feel about the whole thing.
Producer Dave Baxter has given Catherine’s voice room to breathe throughout, but underpinned the likes of Eastern Girl, Stealin and Keep on Fighting (with its Chris Isaak style opening) with an impressive gloss. While the opening might lean slightly too much towards MOR for some, later tracks like Lines on the Road and Sparrows offer more subtlety to please the folk audience.
Perhaps all that is missing to make this a truly great album, is that splash of brilliance; that outstanding song. However, True Love comes close with its wonderful swaggering guitar and lyrics that question the matters of the heart. This is undoubtedly a step up from MacLellan’s last album, Water in the Ground, and it could well make her a number of new friends.
