Reviews

Kathleen Edwards
Album: Billionaire
Label: Dualtone
Tracks: 10
Website: https://www.kathleenedwards.com/

Returning to music after a six-year absence in the wake of her biggest success with 'Voyageur', running her coffee shop and dealing with depression, the Canadian singer-songwriter made her comeback in 2020 with 'Total Freedom'. Now, five years on, she follows up with an album that, co-produced by Gena Johnson and Jason Isbell, the latter also on electric guitar, harmonies and keys, can effortlessly stand alongside her critically acclaimed 2002 debut, 'Failer'.

Backed by 400 Unit rhythm section Chad Gamble and Anna Butterss, with Annie Clements playing bass on some tracks, alongside keyboardist Jen Gunderman with Allison Moorer and Shelby Lynne on vocals, with eight self-penned numbers and two co-writes, it's powerful and punchy, both musically and lyrically, opening with the strummed and steady walking rhythm 'Save Your Soul' which takes the rich man, camel, needle's eye and heaven line on wealth and greed ("Who's going to save your soul/When your money's no good") as she warns "it's a short fall to the ground when you/Dig your own hole". Closing out with an Isbell guitar break, it's followed by the first of two tracks that push past the six-minute mark, a propulsive loping rhythm 'Say Goodbye, Tell No One', she and Isbell trading guitar licks on a biting awkwardness in ending a relationship number ("The easiest thing for me would be/Get someone to speak for me/Get somebody else to tell you how I feel…The hardest part about the truth/Saying something that might hurt you/The hardest part about a lie/You can't outrun it if you try/I was always good to you/You can get blisters from your favorite shoes") as she sings "Here's the truth wrapped up in a lie/I never cared and I never tried/I don't miss you and I never cried/It didn't hurt me when you took their side". The near 90 second instrumental break sounds like Fleetwood Mac channelling Neil Young.

Referencing Toronto hockey team the Maple Leafs, stripped back to acoustic with driving keys and Clements on bass 'Little Red Ranger' spins a character sketch of a Canadian musician friend ("You never met a pair of jeans/That didn't fit you perfectly/Playing in a band and you sure can drink") who's now "channeling the spirit of Rick Danko's ghost/Driving your little red Ranger/All over LA… Someday soon you're gonna call home to tell us/That you're gonna stay", and while for her he'll "always be the boy lacing his skates" she wants him to make the best of whatever opportunities he gets because "You miss every shot that you never take".

Clements again on bass, she turns the power back up and channels Tom Petty for the guitar ringing Ken Yates co-write 'When the Truth Comes Out', another number rooted in relationship betrayals ("Back then, back when you walked in a room/Everyone turned and noticed/Back then everyone knew/He was lucky to have you/Kings lose their crowns/And nobody wants to stick around/When the truth comes out").

Johnson on piano and backing vocals with Corrina Grant Gill on backing and Rob Moose on violin and viola, the refrain soaring power ballad title track, a co-write with Dan Wilson, is the obverse of the album's opener, where true wealth is what you've stored up in life's experiences and friendships ("There are a million pictures living in your phone/The history of your smile/Everywhere you ever went is just living somewhere in a cloud/Someone says your name/I always turn around/If this feeling/Were currency I would be/A Billionaire"), even when those who have passed on ("Grief is love that makes sense/Except for those of us still left/To figure out what to do/At night with all these thoughts of you/Your perfect skin/Your smiling eyes/I can see them in my mind/How your kindness ricocheted through everyone").

Set to a slow walking beat, channelling Young again with snarly guitars, the second lengthy track, 'I Need A Ride' gradually builds as she calls out the current climate of intolerance and rage where "People get worked up about a baseball hat/People get worked up about a uniform/They've never had to wear before…People get worked up about someone's dad/Trying to teach his kid how to open a can/You get worked up about a place I love /A place you've only ever seen from above" and how where it was once calls for "peace! love! and your autonomy!" now "you're calling the snitch lines on your neighbors" as she raises the spectre of xenophobia ("Close the stores/Keep your dirty little kids indoors/I'm not going to turn away/People who were welcome here yesterday") as, when those who threw the metaphorical rocks come asking for help, she spits "You get worked up about a truck I drive/Cry me a river now you need a ride".

Recorded in one take with piano and electric and acoustic guitars, the spare 'Little Pink Door' deals with memory and regret ("Today I spotted you in a crowd/I almost shouted your name out loud/It's been years since I thought about/Falling in love and falling out/2004 and a little pink door/You were wrapping me up I wanted so much more/I'll see you later and I thought for sure/But you were wrapping me up/At the little pink door") and how little things can upset your equilibrium ("Yesterday just out of the blue/A song came on and I thought of you/I bought you the album as a birthday gift…You moved on and I can safely say/I moved on too but the sting remains").

Clements back on bass, with fingerpicked acoustic and Isbell firing up the electric, 'FLA' is a simple love letter to Florida ("I'll show you this place I know/Outside of Ocala/Where the air is alive/Spanish moss hangs from the pine/Horse farms on either side/South of St. Mary's river/Like a white pelican in the winter") that again trades in memories ("Pink hotels that remind me/A postcard you sent me when I was a kid") and references both John Anderson's 'Seminole Wind' and Tom Petty ("Singing a song by my hero/A blonde boy from Gainesville").

The album's shortest track at under three minutes with its cascading guitar chimes and claps 'Other People's Bands' takes a swipe at those who are ungrateful for the chances they get ("The whole world has been holding the door/If you don't want to walk through it… Are you too busy working on/Your silent treatment") and sniffy about not being the one in the spotlight ("Compliments/Have been raining down on your roof/If you just stopped to listen/Credit was given/Credit was due/Still I never heard you once say thank you/I heard you told a friend/You shouldn't play in other people's bands").

After songs veined with regret it ends with the simple acoustic chug of 'Pine' which, while reminiscing on a former lover, opens with her singing "I don't want to pine for anyone/Don't want to come undone/I don't want to stand on shaky ground/Thinking you might come around/Don't want to live in a fairytale/Everyone knows it never ends well/When the lights come up you gotta go home/We've both been there before". However, by the time it gets to "Don't want to have to try to be all cool/Eyes down when you walk into the room/Saw a picture of you on the street/Wearing your favorite jeans/Don't want to think about your beat up shoes/Laying on the floor next to someone who/Doesn't know you the way that I do" it's clear that wishing doesn't always make it so as she admits to herself "I know you know when we go our separate ways/The thought of you stays".

A triumphant comeback and return to peak form, Edwards has been nominated for a Canadian Juno Award six times and twice for a Polaris, this should be the one that sees her scoop both.

Mike Davies

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