Carolyn Walker’s sophomore CD Incarnadine offers many shades, nuances, and interpretations of the singer-songwriter genre. Walker is also a masterful multi-instrumentalist who plays violin, viola, acoustic guitar, Chinese instruments and many others. There are enough golden nuggets on this ten track album to suggest Walker is a brilliant artist with the potential for a very bright future in the music business.
“Time” opens the album with Walker’s gentle, smooth voice climbing a high narrative arc. It’s the kind of song that feels lifted, suspended in air on the strength of a singer’s rangy talents. Mark Erelli’s pedal steel melody emotes another layer of emotion while Walker continues her steady vocal climb.
“Wanted” shows even more of Walker’s vocal talent. Her voice rides up nice and high on her choruses while she holds her own against Mark Erelli’s adventurous guitar edge. Walker makes the listener feel what this one is all about with her gritty aplomb, belting out every lyrical description of her frustration with a relationship.
Walker sings in a more whispery approach to “Still Here.” Her voice is a thing of beauty as she describes a mournful melancholy fall afternoon. A listener might wish he could just bottle one of her tenderly sustained vocal notes. Her voice is that precious. A musical wunderkind, Walker is a one person band here, playing ruan, erhu, piano, hand drum, bass, and ocarina. An erhu is a Chinese violin, and Walker proves herself a solid violinist as she experiments with its foreign tinged melody line.
“Voice In My Head” has more of a rock ballad edge, with Walker finessing her edgy chorus with a bit of forcefulness. The listener can feel she means business as the confrontation song progresses. Walker sets the record straight for herself as well as her beloved with a chorus that is rock steady strong. This one could be her hit song on local radio stations. Its empowerment theme comes across loud and clear within the framework of a very catchy song. Drummer Lorne Entress, bassist Paul Kochanski, and guitarist Mark Erelli build a mountainous lift beneath her vocal line, and it all comes together in a song that makes an impact.
Title track “Incarnadine” finds Walker wrapping her warm, whispery vocal around her enticing electric piano line. Emotive, touching, one can picture Walker tinkling her ivory keys while gently infusing tenderness into her microphone. This song just kisses the ear with it breezy brush of feeling. Each note from each of Walker’s instruments,, including a parlor organ and a Shakuhachi, adds something special, memorable, affective to her song. Listener’s will want to listen to it over and over again.
Walker plays her violin like an adventurous, traveling rock and roll instrument on “Words Words Words.” Singing like a woman on a mission, Walker maintains a persistent oomph in her vocal line too. Her aggressive influences work well here. Listeners can feel Walker taking them somewhere. There is a deliberateness going on in her voice and violin that cannot be denied. Her vocal coos at the end are on fire, finishing the piece with an enticing flair.
Walker possesses the uncanny ability to play and sing mellow while still maintaining an edge. With only voice, acoustic guitar, and violin, Walker reaches deep into her heart on “I Don’t Know You Anymore” and pulls out a raw, honest emotion that all of her listeners can relate to. Contemplating a failed relationship, Walker conjures the empty forlorn feeling we have all gone through after something special has come to a sudden stop. She has a gift for making her listeners feel something without getting too emotional and beating them over the head with it. This tune is a subtle rendering of an emotion and it maintains its mournful beauty with seeming ease.
“St. Nick” is an edgy bracing reflection on the impossibly naïve view most people have of Christmas. It’s not played or sung like a holiday song, so its message can be appreciated any time of the year. Walker must have had some disappointing holiday seasons, and she’s not afraid to share her jaded view of Father Christmas. She rocks it up a bit with Mark Thayer’s swashbuckling electric guitar and her walloping rhythm section, and this beautifully supports her not so subtle sarcasm.
Walker’s duo ballad with her guitarist Mark Erelli on “Bitter/Sweet” is a sweet, tender confection for the ears. This gentle tuft of voices, mandolin, violin, Viola, and a waltzing rhythm section take one into the heart of this tune. It’s easy to picture couples sharing their final slow dance to this sweet sorrow number. The tune has a hint of influence from sad songs from America’s oldies period, late 1950s to early 1960s. This keeps the song rooted in deep familiarity while Walker keeps it fresh with her unique incorporation of strings and mandolin.
Walker closes out her brilliant album with her solo piece “You Are Loved.” Her tender voice has an edge of forcefulness to it here, making her emotive lyrics come to life with her deep sincerity.
Incarnadine is a must have for anyone following up and coming artists from New England. Carolyn Walker is certainly something special. Her smart lyrics, clever arrangements, multi-instrumentalist talents are all on fire on this album. Check her out right away or you’ll be the last person to discover this potential next big thing.
http://www.carolynwalkermusic.com
