Eddi Reader: "Simple Soul"
Fans of Eddi Reader who agree that Americans should get to know
the Scottish singer better should be pleased with Simple Soul.
The stripped-down disc, recorded with mostly acoustic instruments
and minimal studio technique, is the most spare and intimate work
the former Fairground Attraction frontwoman has done to date.
There's little, if anything, to get in the way of Reader communicating
her lovely, beguiling tunes to anyone who will listen.
The popularity of folk-pop being what it is these days, many won't.
It's their loss. Reader enjoys a sizeable following in Europe,
thanks to her Fairground years, but also because of her charming
solo works, Eddi Reader, Mirmama, Candyfloss and Medicine, and
Angels & Electricity.
Simple Soul was begun as a series of demo sessions that were only
meant to test some new recording equipment but turned into one
of those albums whose simplicity was dictated by the circumstances.
Playing it gives off the pleasant sensation of an intimate concert
held right in your own living room.
Reader's songs, written mostly with longtime musical partner Boo
Hewerdine as well as several others, are gorgeous but also startlingly
direct. There's a pearl of wisdom in almost every one, but they're
tinged with melancholy thanks to how often life falls short of
ideals set forth. "The Wanting Kind" is about someone leading
a "perfect life" yet who continually feels unfulfilled. "Lucky
Penny" finds the singer counting on a talisman to bring her happiness
only to learn that "good fortune's not for sale." There are two
songs about the Fall of Man, "Adam" and "Eden." In the first,
a jazzy Rickie Lee Jones-style number, Eve gives their plight
some upbeat spin, noting, "Adam baby don't you look so sad/ How
we going to miss what we never really had?"
The characters in her songs may fail, but Reader's voice never
does. Gorgeous and pure, it's never less than enchanting, especially
when she tries out her upper register or gives a particularly
Scottish reading of a word, turning "dirt" into "deart," for example.
Most musicians will agree that the true test of a song is whether
it will work in the most basic of circumstances ? in most cases,
with just an acoustic guitar. And though these songs have been
sweetened here and there with keyboards, percussion, and background
vocals, these tunes absolutely measure up. Simple Soul deserves
a fair hearing.
Rating: 78
Reviewer: Daniel Durchholz
from Wall of Sound