Ora Cogan - Formless

 

Loyal follower and supporter of this blog, Darren Jones, has been on holiday. I'm not sure Darren Jones is allowed to go on holiday. Put that in the ship's log Stubb. It's not in his job description. He was Shanghaied, many moons ago. For the services of The Pequod As Starbuck to my Ahab, chief mate to my captain, cast adrift on the ocean seas of musical blog. 

He's been doing sterling, work onboard It Starts for a number of voyages now. Going back years. Rising through the ranks. Eyes scanning the horizon keenly for approaching schools, promising new releases, catches,  to cast the ship's nets for and bring their catch onboard for the captain's table, (though of course I know he likes listening to them just for himself of course). 

But Darren / Starbuck is always very generous in letting me know . Prizes which I otherwise might miss, so I in turn can bring them to the notice of anyone who's interested out there in the world of blog. Apologies for my enthusiasm and ludicrous prose. But that's what language and imagination is here for after all.

The good news is Darren's back from his holidays. And he's just posted me one of his latest listening finds, Ora Cogan and her latest album Formless. Ora's a recording artist based on Vancouver Island. who's been recording and playing for going on twenty years now, with EPs and albums on various record labels. Never really coming to the attention of the majors. But do we really need the majors anymore. Discuss in pairs.

Ora's a restless soul that's for sure. Formless is as good a place to make her case as anywhere. The music is difficult to categorise. I'd call it Independent Folk. It's so enticing you might make you want to cancel all immediate engagements and make your way to Vancouver Island post haste endeavoring to track her down.

Midway through Formless  she plays her take on Katie Cruel a Traditional American Folk song of Scottish origin. Karen Dalton performed probably the best known version. It's also been covered by Odetta, Bert Jansch, Lankum and adapted for their own purposes by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds down the years. Several of them are well worth hearing.

Cogan's version of this classic wasn't instantly recognisable to me and doesn't bear any immediate relation to my ears to any version I've heard before. But it holds its own. More than holds its own.

As does the rest of Formless. In itself an interesting name for a record. There's plenty of form here as far as I can see. Great form! Good shape! Thanks Darren. Hope you had a great holiday! Now back to your duties And put your back into it lad. This is just wonderful anyway. Like so much else you recommend.