Kathleen Edwards - Back To Me

Definitely a cut above the standard singer-songwriter fare - very, very nice chiming jangly yearnful (to coin a phrase) country-infused electric guitar-based rock. The music is vibrant, warm, a little bit melancholy; hooks are plentiful and sometimes completely irresistible (the gorgeous uplift of the bridging line "don't say that you'll change" in "In State", the transition into the chorus of "Old Time Sake", the whole chorus of "Summerlong"...). The songwriting is consistently good, and sometimes much better than just good - like Caitlin Cary, say, Edwards has the knack of writing songs, both mid-tempo/more upbeat rockers and pretty ballads, which feel all summery and golden and mildly swoony and which carry you along from start to finish. Her voice, too, is fantastic, silvery-raspy and sweet: she sings with a Lucinda-esque combination of swagger and ache, and her songwriting owes something to that latter as well, especially tracks like "Independent Thief" and "Summerlong"; at times, too, a bit of Chan Marshall huskiness comes through to good effect...bring it on.