October 25, 2008

Album Review - Pendulum

Bernard Zuel

Sydney Morning Herald

You won't find this in any recipe book but Liz Stringer has a voice deeply soaked in some oak barrel, stretched out to dry on ancient wooden racks and seasoned with herbs collected by wizened old women in old pinafores. I'm convinced of it, particularly when you match the voice to the face, which is guileless and young enough to suggest the '60s is near enough to ancient history.

This voice is not rough, far from it. No, when I say it is lived in I don't mean it's been abused, but rather it's absorbed a fair number of experiences, both hers and others', and allowed them to settle in, become her. Then in turn that "knowledge" both informs and deepens the quality of the songwriting. Again and again across this album you feel the song and the character in it in a direct visceral way.

Take Drawn To You, which moves with the sad grace of Emmylou Harris on her intense Wrecking Ball album, but without Daniel Lanois's claustrophobic atmosphere. When Stringer sings in the low burning embers of the song, "We both had our scars, now some of them are raw/But I never like perfection, it's such a fucking bore", you hear pain and the defiant last echoes of what used to be hope, resignation and never quite quenched lust.

Or how about Get Myself Together, set in an old folk style and near enough to something which could have tempted Nick Cave. Stringer sets up vast empty spaces around and indeed within the narrator who asks "Do you know how it feels to have your pride ripped from you/Like you are only ever half a man?/Do you know how it feels to have your only son recoil/when you stretch out one trembling hand?"

There's plenty more too. Baby Jane feels 19th-century enough for me to picture the characters of the sadly missed television series Deadwood each time I hear it, Lady Luck is an incongruous but palate cleansing upbeat country tune with more than a modicum of optimism; Having Trouble Sleeping rewrites yearning; and Over The Sea sways and aches equally.

This album, Liz Stringer's second, was released a little while back, but it was too good to be confined to minor placings, hence the wait.

Waiting won't hurt it though because Pendulum, and Stringer, will be around for quite a while.

You'll make sure of that once you hear this.

August 31, 2008

Album Review - Pendulum

Scott Podmore

Sunday Herald-Sun

LIZ Stringer's music is bewitching. Within a minute, you find yourself spellbound by its sparse, atmospheric charms.

Her yearning vocals offering tenderness yet commanding your attention.

An old-fashioned Springsteen-style storyteller with a soulful, mature voice, Stringer has soldiered on from impressive first album Soon for a neat follow-up.

Pendulum is rich, diverse and sombre. Among the goodies here are the tender balladry of All I Have for You Tonight; the gloom of Baby Jane, its sorrowful tale weaving seamlessly with the ache of pedal steel, strings and banjo; Over the Sea's dramatic acoustic blend, providing the perfect backdrop to vivid imagery ("I dreamt last night of the beautiful birds/taking me high and away from the world"); and the uptempo country groove of You Say So Many Things.

A stripped back, unpolished production lends Pendulum its charm.

It's as if you're there in the room with the singer, under a spell. It's a breath of fresh air.

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