Erica Buettner True Love and Water Review by Gary Hill
Delicate and artistic, this is a hard album to categorize. At times it’s proggy. Most of it is folk oriented. It’s all pretty. This is a gentle album that works quite well.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2013 Volume 3 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Time Travelling
There’s a bit of a European café music element as this opens. It works out to a slow moving, folk music motif from there. It’s pretty and rather intricate. As the arrangement fills out later it really gets rather dreamy and almost prog rock like.
True Love and Water The title track shares a lot of musical territory with the opener, but it remains closer to the pure folk music style. That said, there are some intricate and powerful melodies here.
Under the Radar
Energetic and yet delicate folk music is the order of business here.
When It Goes
A slow tune, there is some bluegrass in the mix here. The vocal arrangement here is particularly noteworthy.
Arctic Dogs This is arguably one of the strongest pieces here. The sound is more proggy in some ways. I’d put it closer to something from Bjork, maybe. Either way, it’s unusual and very cool.
Our Most Fragile Things
Delicate and feeling rather fragile, this is another very pretty song. The vocal arrangement is really the standout item on display here. It’s another highlight.
No Land's Man
This is more in the gentle folk approach. Again, the arrangement takes it beyond that, but that’s the general song structure here.
The Body Electric
Although in general this isn’t that much different from the rest of the album, the organ on this brings a real retro rock element to play. There is a real rock movement later in the piece, too. Drums are an unusual thing here and we get them on this tune.
A Tale of Norstein
In a lot of ways this isn’t all that different from the rest of the album. Still, it has its own unique flavor and vibe.
Outro
This is just a short little bit with pretty melodies on both guitar and vocals.
