Sharron Kraus - Songs of Love and Loss
(Camera Obscura)
On Songs of Love and Loss, Sharron Kraus accentuates the strong literary sensibility in the tradition of English "dark folk" (the trunk of the tree on which Appalachian murder ballads are the leaves) with stunning results. Kraus continues the work of a historical continuum that began centuries ago and has seen traditional champions in Shirley Collins, the Waterson and Carthy families, and more recently in the work of Alasdair Roberts, Nick Cave, and David Tibet.
In Kraus' world, the dead mingle with the living and vice versa. Sometimes even the lines between the living and dead are blurred. Two of the recurring themes on the disc are life amidst death (two nocturnal wanderers warm each other's hands and imagine that this can eventually thaw the "Frozen Lake," and "The Tree of Knowledge" bears fruit in midwinter), and its converse, death intruding upon life. This unifying theme is restated with slight variations in each song and gains power through its repetition over the length of the disc.
The opening track "Gallows Song/Gallows Hill" is split into two parts: the plaintive plea of the condemned man, and two lovers visiting the site of the hanging years later. The skeletal dirge of "Gallows Song" (credited in the liner notes as a traditional song collected in Mountain View, Arkansas) emerges with crystalline vocals backed only by some light whispers of bass and drums, and punctuated by the odd banjo pluck. This is a risky way to begin the record as this strategy hinges on the purity of Kraus's voice, but the voice does not disappoint. It is both clear and fragile yet never afraid to reveal its steely core. "Gallows Hill" fleshes out the melody introduced in the minimal "Gallows Song" but it is an invocation the lovers will come to regret when a ghost of one of the executed claims one of their lives.
There are less blatant statements of the shadowy boundary between life and death as well, often transposed onto the insect world in terms of transformations. In "The Song and Dance of the Bees," the bees are a locus of fecundity and the possibility of birth but also for pain (their "tiny stinging kisses"). The bees' stings turn Kraus' blood into honey, and she is metamorphosized into the "homecoming [bee] queen." In "Impasse," Kraus laments that she has woven her cocoon too tight and will not be able to take flight once it comes time to be reborn, a reference to the consequences of emotional withdrawal.
If all of this were merely an exercise in metaphor, one might prefer that it be delivered as poetry. But as potent as they are, the words alone cannot tell the whole story. The discordant "steel cacophony" contributed from Black Forest/Black Sea's Jeffrey Alexander in "Still" amplifies the unease of that song's stark lyrics. And on "The Fastest Train," Alexander's fuzz guitar lurks just behind a cheerful riff of brightly strummed acoustic guitar and drums accentuating the lyrical turns into "the road less traveled." The dark topics of the lyrics are also used as a counterbalance to the upbeat music. In "Murder of Crows," the most toe-tapping and swinging track is about a suicide caused by the loss of a loved one. Love and loss: together again.
But all is not so serious or bleak. The arrangements are also filled with clever musical effects that lighten the mood. The guitar accompaniment to "The Tree of Knowledge" sounds like hands and legs clambering up a trunk, and violins buzz and swarm around in "Song and Dance of the Bees". In lesser hands, these could come across as contrived novelties, but Kraus and the musicians she has assembled know exactly how far to push them in the service of the song.
With Songs of Love and Loss, Sharron Kraus has offered a revival in the best sense of the word. It is not just a rehashing of old ideas, rather a new creation built on founding principles. At base, it is timeless music expressing universal joy and sorrow with vivid imagery and sensitive accompaniment. Far more than its deceptively modest title suggests.
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