Looking back, in some ways my liking of Kasey Chambers was an early precursor of the musical waters I've been swimming in over the last 10 or 12 months or so; coming back to her now, via this, her most recent (I think) album, I've realised that she really is very good, even with the perspective that having listened to a lot more of this kind of stuff has brought (in fact, that perspective has allowed me to better appreciate the things that set her apart).
Wayward Angel doesn't have quite the seemingly artless fluency and sweetness of The Captain and Barricades & Brickwalls, but it may well be a better record than either of those. I tend to like the songs with banjo on them ("Bluebird", "Wayward Angel", "Follow You Home"); "Like A River" also v. good. Also, it might just be me, but it seems that Chambers's voice is less distinctive (many would say 'irritating', though I've never been one of those) than I recall - whether that's something else born of this different perspective, or an actual shift in her singing style, I don't know. The singing and songwriting seems so confident - both are pushed right to the front of one's awareness and it's a testament to their strength and warmth that this foregrounding doesn't result in any kind of diminishing.
