I like artists who endeavor to put out an album a year. It's what people used to do back in the day before global marketing kicked in with full force and the never ending merry-go-round of touring, talking to the media and milking every last drop out of each release kicked in, making one record every three years if you were lucky became the norm instead.
In this respect, I have reason I have reason to be grateful to Saskatchewan-bred duo Kacy & Clayton who have just released their second record, The Siren's Song, not much more than a calendar year after their first, Strange Country came out.
I chanced upon that first album late last year and liked it so much that I ranked it sixth on my end of year list and bought it for a Christmas present for a nephew, though he never got back to me to let me know whether he liked it or not. Now there's gratitude for you.
The Siren Song builds on the promise of that outstanding debut. Produced by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, (n indication of rising profile), and supplemented by a full band it's a neat companion piece to Strange Country. The classic retro cover gives it a distinctly sixties feel, which is only enhanced by the sound of the songs which drift into Gram Parsons, Emmy Lou, Buffalo Springsteen, Byrds and Country Rock territory. I'm also reminded, as with their debut, of Cowboy Junkies.
The songs focus on classic folk and country themes, loss, temptation, the lure of the city and Kacy & Clayton deal with them sweetly, with due respect, but making the emotions seem fresh and real on eight self-compositions and a ninth track, an adaptation of a traditional, the closer Go & Leave Me.
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