On her second full length CD, Embrace The Journey, Cape Cod singer-songwriter Kathleen Healy provides a landscape of beautiful life stories sound tracked by her unique voice and her gift for valuable musical details. On each song she seems to having a conversation with both her listener and to whomever she is singing of. Her personality, vocal timbre, and talent come together as one stand out presentation.
Opening track “Two To Tango” finds Healy using her wounded girl timbre to fill the space above tender bits of acoustic notes. Healy’s own guitar work, producer Jon Evan’s bright mandolin melody, and their pulpy harmonies make this come to three dimensional life. One can feel the singer-songwriter’s topical transition from victim to self-forgiven survivor as those juicy notes do their quiet march across the sonic landscape.
Singing over a gently tinkled piano progression on “Enough,” Healy’a subtle voice just barely kisses the emotive support beneath her. She pulls one into her world without trying to pull. Her voice is so loaded with forlorn emotion that one just needs to follow along.
The assertively sung “More” moves in quick sprints. Each meter is packed with an upswing of energy. Healy makes one feel the banner she’s waving for the love she sings of. Her happiness rings true in both her voice, her vocal phrasing, and in the instrumentation and harmony vocals flowing by like a calm stream.
“Speaking Out” is a singer-songwriter protest song against misogyny. Healy’s lilting vocal melody carries beautifully over Evans’ mandolin. It’s uncanny how well Healy has incorporated the expression “Speaking Out” into her lyrics and more so how she makes it fit seamlessly into her vocal phrase.
“Keep Coming Back” is a hand clapping, beat driven number. Aside from being a fun sing along at a campfire or coffeehouse venue, it engages with its tightness between vocals and instruments. The verses are snuggly fun and Healy meets the challenge of keeping them fun to follow. Her chorus is sweetly infectious and this is one of her songs that her fans probably can’t wait for her to play when she’s in town.
“Vagabond” is a light, breezy tune buttressed by Katy Box Nickerson’s gentle fiddle melody. The song is more about a free spirit than an impoverished person, and the lightness of approach in vocals, guitar, fiddle and everything else capture that buttery movement perfectly.
“Over The Ocean” is pushed through its mid tempo meters by a rock and roll kick drum. With that pushy pulse, Healy sends her voice over the beat and alongside Jon Evans’ lead guitar, capturing the adventurous feeling of travel. She also projects courage as her character gets closer to foreign soil. Served up with some edge, this song could finds listeners among fans of many genres.
Shifting back into chill mode, Healy reflects happily upon the woman who raised her. “Gifts From My Mother” reflect on gifts more intangible but more real than anything that could ever come wrapped. Healy’s natural timbre possesses a feminine sincerity to make this song feel authentic. She also moves it through its meters with talented vocal phrasing, making it feel like she’s taking us through a pleasant ride through her childhood.
With a haunting backdrop that one cannot just look away from, “Old Man Winter” lets Healy show how well she can fit her vocal into even this eerie drama. Her voice, with a shift from her wounded girl timbre, rings out like a lingering reminder of regret. Easefully releasing just enough smooth vocal to grace thick low end guitar notes, Healy conjures a barren landscape that one would fear to tread. Yet, she somehow makes the whole experience beautifully human.
A pleasant folksy piece, “Slip Away” moves to a jaunty rhythm adorned with numerous pretty acoustic notes. One can picture a person skipping through a wooded path on a bright spring day. Hearty acoustic strums during the chorus gives this tune a lot of fiber. Healy’s ability to leapfrog her vocal over the tuft of accompaniment thicken the tune’s rhythms and meanings while leading us through it with brightness and joy.
Longing to make the world a better place, Healy implores us to do it one step at a time on “Small Things.” Her voice is full of as much hope as her lyrics, making her message shine atop sparse acoustic guitar accompaniment. Mark Erelli chimes in as a co-lead vocalist to enhance the male to female dynamic required for this kind of effort.
Closing track “House Of Love” is a joyful celebration of all of the family experiences that can ever take place in a family’s home. She leads the way through household memories with a personal brightness. One can feel the love in her voice as she glides onwa, with impressive smoothness, through her verses and over her support players.
With Embracing The Journey, Kathleen Healy has come up with an admirable, winsome album. Produced to shiny detail by Jon Evans at his Brick Hill Studio in Orleans, Massachusetts, this album offers relatable songs that reflect on personal and universal themes. Healy serves them up with a likable style loaded with fine details in the vocals and in the instrumentation.
