The Abramson Singers
Album: Late Riser
Label: Factor
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.leahabramson.com

The words you're about to read are not those you might expect from me!… For I still really don't know quite what to make of this disc, even after very many plays. It's not that I don't like it (far from it!), or that it has any specific, or unredeemable, faults. And it's not that it is below-par in any way, musically or artistically. But for all its considerable virtues it seems to embody an inconsistency of musical vision, not quite pulling together its disparate elements. Or this may just be my imagination …

Let's start with the band name, which is a touch misleading - for it ain't a group of singers, but instead to all intents and purposes it's a vehicle for the singing and songwriting talents of Vancouver's Leah Abramson. Although already variously a member of old-time bands The Crooked Jades and Dyad as well as indie rockers Octoberman, Leah has been in demand as a harmony singer for a number of years, notably working in that capacity with Rayna Gellert (fiddler with old-time outfit Uncle Earl). The Abramson Singers band itself - which judging from the album liner credits comprised Leah with keyboardist Tyson Naylor, drummer Dan Gaucher and two different bassists - was formed back in 2009, and its aforementioned, eponymously-titled debut album was released the following year. Its songs, virtually all penned by Leah, spanned genres and modes, from well-coordinated a cappella harmony pieces to quirky, eccentric contemporary indie-folk writing with glistening instrumental backdrops and touches of easy-going McGarrigle-esque Americana (or should I say Canadiana?) thrown in.

This appealing mix remains largely in force for album number two, Late Riser, which now at long last reaches the eager ears of those who'd been privileged to experience the band's debut as well as a potential new audience. Its listed personnel sees Leah and Tyson settling for one bass player (Patrick Metzger) but this time round switching between two drummers and selectively bringing in a couple of string players and a few harmony vocalists. As an album, Late Riser doesn't seem to achieve quite the same degree of internal consistency as its predecessor, at least to start with, for it begins somewhat untypically, with a glittery synthy prelude leading into a cryptic vocal canon over a wordless ostinato motif, before what you might call the first song proper kicks in, the gently upholstered and beautifully, surreally resonant deep-throat geetar-twang of Jack Of Diamonds, followed by another standout cut, the haunting Marguerite, sung in both English and French, which is built around a hypnotic cyclic musical figure and cocooned in mildly sumptuous horn and reedy-organ timbres.

Here, as thereafter and throughout, Leah's singing is to the fore; and yes, hers is a rather special voice, softly sad and slightly forlorn but rich in timbre and uncannily bewitching. Drowning Man is delicately soulful, while Lose-Lose is charming, catchy 60s-style girl-group pop-folk, and Déjà-Vu turns chansonnier and discordantly introspective; after this, Skull And Crossbones' lazy, if ominous tread finally gives way to Red River Valley's singalong outro.

By which time any earlier reservations are left way behind, and all I wanted to do was play the whole darned disc over again - and again… go figure!!

David Kidman